Candle Heart
by UmbraAurumDragon
Summary: (Ace Revival FanFiction) (Time Travel) It's been seven years since Luffy first set out to sea. He found the One Piece and can finally return home to see Shanks. However, a chance discovery from an item he found with the One Piece allows Luffy to alter the event that forever changed him. But he has to be careful not to change the future.
1. Chapter 1- A Long Awaited Encounter

**(A/N)** **This is supposed to be set 7 years after Luffy set out to sea.**

 **WARNING- Spoilers for (Fishman Island Ark and Dressrosa Ark) (Nothing major, just stuff about Sabo and the tiniest bit about Jinbe) Most of you probably already know this stuff anyway.**

 **(EDIT) TO ALL THOSE WATCHING THE DUBB! I just realised the Dubb just passed the bit where Ace dies, so all you emotionally dead people wanting to read this but without spoilers, Chapter 9 and 10 will have his revival. I'll put a summary of what happened in the earlier chapters in chapter 9 and make sure I don't include any spoilers in there so you can read it! SO SKIP TO CHAPTER 9!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or any of the characters or story line, I'm not Eiichiro Oda.**

* * *

 **Candle Heart**

 **Chapter 1-A Long Awaited Encounter**

The wind smelled like the salt of the sea to the young pirate. The Sunny was heading straight and true and the raven haired man was sitting cross-legged on the yellow lions head. A smile was etched across his face, from one ear to the other, almost splitting his face in two. The golden sun appeared to rise to meet the figurehead of the ship, it's rays just beginning to appear on the surface of the calm water, making it appear to look more like golden armour then a deep blue sea. The man's straw hat fluttered behind him in that salty morning breeze. He had to keep his promise; he was returning his most prized possession finally after seven years on the sea and many more since it had been given to him by a certain red headed emperor of the oceans.

The rest of the crew were asleep, but Luffy was impatient, he had waited to see the man who has saved and inspired him for so long, how could he sleep. Plus he was hungry; he had woken up only shortly after falling asleep, because his tummy had been growling so loudly. He sighed, Sanji wouldn't be up for another half hour to start preparing breakfast, and Luffy couldn't even raid the pantry as it had been locked and all the delicious meat hidden. His mouth was watering. Maybe if he went and woke up Nami she would convince the spiral brow to cook breakfast early, Luffy quickly dismissed the idea, he'd learnt the hard way many times not to interrupt his navigators beauty sleep. He suddenly felt a tweak to his haki someone was awake. Robin shortly afterwards walked out onto the deck, her ever present smile greeted him as much as her words. "Morning Luffy." She said, with a tilt of the head and a slight increase in the sweetness of her smile.

"Shishishishi, Morning Robin!" He replied, somehow managing to widen his own smile.

"Do you think Red Hair has found out yet?" She asked, leaning back against the ships railing.

"Shishishishi, it's been a month, I'm sure he's heard." Luffy replied.

"Are you nervous?" Robin asked.

"No, why?" Luffy asked.

"It's unusual to see you unshaven, your stubble ages you ten years, though you normally look younger than twenty three anyway." She chuckled. Luffy laughed with her, he still felt the same as he had seven years ago, even though so much had changed. The stubble was quite itchy and annoying, it had come in about two years earlier, consequently making Luffy have to go to all the effort to shave off the itchy hair every morning. Especially seeing as it freaked out the crew.

"Oi, Luffy!" A green haired swordsman interrupted his thought process from above. "I see land, is that your home?" he asked. He must've gotten up just after Robin; Luffy thought to himself, he cocked his head to the side. "Ehhhh?" he replied looking out to the ocean, that just moments ago had been empty. Now there was an island slowly coming closer as if it were begging for Luffy's return. The island had hills, mountains and forests and a city way of in the distance; but this close all Luffy could see was his old home, Windmill Village. He looked up at Zoro and shouted. "Yosh! That's it." He was jumping up and down in excitement now, Robin was laughing at him, he was so close now. He stopped jumping for a second and lowered his straw hat over his head and whispered under his breath. "I'm finally home... Ace."

* * *

"What's all the commotion about?" asked Sanji as he walked through the door, cigarette in hand.

"We're here!" Luffy shouted, still jumping up and down.

"Eh, I better go wake everyone up and make breakfast then." he said as he walked back inside.

"Yeah food!" Luffy yelled, even more excited now. "Sanji, can we have meat?"

"No." Sanji yelled back up, used to this question every morning. Luffy looked down in disappointment.

"It'll take a while so go shave, you want red hair to be able to recognize you don't you." The blonde chef yelled up. Luffy grumbled heading towards the cabin door.

"Like he's the one to talk about shaving." Luffy muttered and mumbled.

"I heard that!" the chef yelled in reply.

"Shishishishi." Chuckled Luffy.

* * *

The crew were all awake and in the galley now eating breakfast and none of them were impressed with their captain. He was still laughing over the black smudges on their faces that they couldn't seem to wash completely off. He couldn't sleep last night and he couldn't get to the food, so he'd taken it upon himself to make his crew's faces more artistic. He'd gotten a beating and a tongue lashing, but it was totally worth it.

After almost choking on his food multiple times because Luffy couldn't laugh then eat, both had to be done at the same time, he finally calmed down. He felt his jaw line he'd managed to get rid of most of the stubble but shaving wasn't his strong point so his jaw still harboured a shorter coarse fur. But in his excitement he'd also managed to cut himself. Nami upon seeing him had asked why he hadn't used Haki, he'd pouted because he hadn't thought of that.

He and the rest of the crew got up to drop anchor at the harbour. Once the ship was secure Luffy shouted. "Let's go." And was about to run off before Zoro grabbed his collar.

"Why don't you tell us exactly where we are headed?" the swordsman asked.

"You'll just get lost anyway." Muttered Usopp under his breath.

"What did you say?" The swordsman growled, whilst grabbing at one of his swords. Usopp cringed and stepped away, waving his hands in front of his face.

"Hehehehe, nope nothing Zoro."

"Hmmf, we all know it's true Marimo." Sanji retorted, lifting up his leg in challenge.

"Spiral Brow!" Zoro bit back as he took out a sword.

"Eeeeh, Zoro! Sanji! I want to see Shanks! Fight later!" Luffy commented.

"How do you even know he is here?" Sanji and Zoro asked in unison.

"When I called Sabo, he said Shanks was last seen in the East Blue, he really only comes here to see Makino, so he must be here!" Luffy said his finger up his nose. If possible, the whole crew seemed to face palm at the same time. Luffy laughed, ignoring his nakama's confusion. "Let's go!" he yelled again. Already walking off.

"Well at least we get to see where Luffy grew up." Said Chopper his face downcast.

"So where are we headed to after you see Red Hair?" Asked Jinbei his voice gruff as always.

"When we finally find him." Muttered Usopp, disappointed he probably wouldn't see his father today.

"Hmmm," Luffy thought for a second. "We already saw Laboon, shishishishishi, Brook was so happy; we can go visit Dadan, then Grandpa, then maybe Ace's grave, then we should go see Sabo, and tell him what that letter we found said, then after that, maybe Vivi." He listed a few more familiar names of old friends he wanted to see again. He then turned on the dirt road and walked backwards, so he could see his crew, the sun lit up his hair, whilst the wind made the strands dance. "Sound good?" He asked his crew with a huge smile. They couldn't help but catch that contagious smile of his, and they all nodded in agreement.

They followed Luffy into the village with the windmills; people were walking around smiling, it appeared to be an ordinary place. Luffy headed to a bar with a wooden sign titling the building 'Partys Bar'.

The crew walked in from the dirt road and to their utter amazement saw a man with a black cloak and red hair sitting at the bar, talking to a lady serving him, big grins etched their faces. The crew's mouths fell open, Luffy had been right? They all thought. They did not have time to dwell on this as of course Luffy upon seeing his old friend, did a typical Luffy thing to do. He stretched out his arms wrapping them around the elder man. He yelled out. "Shaaaaaanks!" And launched himself at the red head without a moment's hesitation.

Shanks had about a total of three seconds of confusion and shock before he got a face full of Luffy, and tumbled onto the ground along with the man with the straw hat.

"Oi! Who the hell?" He looked around. "Luffy, is that you?" he asked laughing his head off, sitting up in a cross legged position, as Luffy had come to be. "It's good to see you again but I thought we had a deal, you little brat, what are you doing here, last I heard you had been missing for months at the end of the new world?"

"Shishishishi, we do have a deal, I'm here to give this back." He said as he took off his infamous straw hat and held it out to the scarred man. The whole room was suddenly silent. Makino and Shanks both looked shocked; it appeared the bottoms of their mouths were almost touching the floor.

"No way, already?" He asked eyes wide as he reached out and grabbed his old possession, looking at it fondly before placing it on his own head.

"Shishishishi, yep we just passed the Redline, through a secret passage about a month ago." Luffy replied.

Zoro smirked "Red hair, before you sits Monkey D. Luffy, the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates; the strongest, most free man on the sea; the Pirate King.

* * *

 **(A/N) I hope you enjoyed.  
**

 **Thank you! Let me know what you think.**

 **TaTa!**  
 **UmbraAurumDragon Out!**


	2. Chapter 2- Memories of the Past

**(A/N) Chapter 2 as promised.  
**

 **I had so much trouble trying to figure out what Usopp's father would be like, sorry if it's a bit ooc. I'm trying to keep the characters as close to the cannon as possible (except maybe a little older/ mature).**

 **Quickly to the guest reviewer:  
Thank you for your review, I'm going with my original idea (it has similarities to what you were suggesting) I hope you like. You'll get a feel for what it is in this chapter, hope you enjoy!  
**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, I am not Oda. (Is this actually necessary? Can't I just put it in the first chapter and skip the rest?)**

* * *

 **Candle Heart**

 **Chapter 2- Memories of the Past**

The shock on the red heads face was obvious; however it was quickly replaced by a laugh. "Dahahahaha, I knew you could do it! Appears my gamble payed off. But you know Luffy," he said as he grabbed the straw hat on his head and placed it in his lap. "This hat belonged to Gol D. Rodger, before he gave it to me. I think it should stay with the Pirate King, after all, how could you be the Straw Hat Pirates, if your captain hasn't even got his infamous straw hat." He chuckled as he said that, and looked at the hat one last time, reliving all the memories that came along with it, meeting Roger, getting scolded and hit, partying with him, traveling with him, fighting beside him, talking with him, the last day he saw him the day his mentor died and finally he thought of the day he had gifted Shanks the hat. After a second he held it out to Luffy.

"But Shanks," Luffy replied, looking dumbstruck. "It's your special hat, you only asked me to look after it." Shanks looked at the boy fondly, he reminded him so much of his old friend Roger.

"Dahahahaha, well you've earned it kid!" He chuckled. Luffy nodded and the red headed man placed the hat on Luffy's head just like he did so many years ago.

"Shishishishi, thanks Shanks." He replied with a huge smile. The rest of his crew let out the breath they had been holding, it was obvious they all believed Luffy wouldn't be the same without his hat, and were glad he got to keep it.

Shanks laughed. "Hey, Luffy! Let's celebrate! Introduce me to your crew, tell me about your voyage." Luffy was about to reply but was interrupted by a long nosed man behind him. "Not yet," Usopp said, anger tinting his voice. "I still have a bone to pick with one of your crew members Shanks." He looked across the room till his eyes came to rest on the Red Haired Pirates Sniper, Usopp's Father. The man glanced up looking at the sound of the voice, his face brightened and he began to smile at recognition of his son. "Usopp is tha-." He was cut off by a punch to the face, Yassop hit the ground hard.

"I guess I kinda deserved that."

* * *

"Why did you never, come back? She died thinking of you and you weren't even there!" Usopp looked a strange mix between heartbroken and mad. "Usopp," the man said, a sigh escaping his lips. "I'm sorry I wasn't there, I missed you and your mother, but the pirate flag called me to stand up and be a man, just as it called you, and I couldn't say no. I was devastated to hear of your mothers death, by the time I found out you had already set off with Luffy. But I couldn't be more proud of you, Sniper of the Pirate King."

Usopp didn't have much of a come back for that. He'd missed his father, looked up to him and waited impatiently for his return. Now he was here, he recalled the fight he had with Luffy so long ago, he could go down the same path, be bitter and hate his father or enjoy the company of his only blood relative, Usopp smirked. "I can understand your impressed, it's not every day you get to see the bravest warrior of the sea." His father grinned back, tears beginning to run down his face as he looked at Usopp like a precious gem. "Indeed you are, the bravest man on the sea, my son." He opened his arms for an embrace and Usopp complied, jumping into his father's arms, tears now running down his face too.

It didn't take long for Luffy, Chopper, Brook and Franky to start crying along with them. Zoro rolled his eyes and muttered. "I can't believe this is the pirate king's and one of the four emperor's crew." When he looked around he noticed that even Nami and Robin were touched by the emotional display, along with many of Shanks's crew. "Geez, bakas." He grumbled. Luffy stopped crying and let a huge smile replace his tears.

"Shishishishi, let's celebrate now! Makino can you bring us some meat?" She laughed in reply and agreed.  
"And sake!" Zoro called as she walked off.

* * *

After many stories had been exchanged, along with a lot of money. Mostly due to drinking competitions that Nami seemed to always win, much to the disappointment of Shanks and Zoro, who were both glaring at her from the corner as she counted each berry she had won with a smug smirk covering her face.

The two pirate crew's finally began to calm down. "So Luffy," Shanks began to ask. "Rodger never told me what the one piece actually was, you going to tell me?"

"Shishishishi, nope it's a mystery treasure" he said, as a rascally smile creeped onto his face. Shanks narrowed his eyes, not impressed with the brats answer.  
"There was a note from Roger about the will of D," Luffy finally continued, after noticing Shanks annoyance. "It talked about how we are the enemies of the Celestial Dragons and it explained why. I think Sabo will be interested to hear about it so I'm going to go see him next. There was also heaps of treasure and this." He said pulling out a pocket watch. Shanks was distracted for a second because he was surprised Luffy could say such a long sentence, and was curious as to what the note said that had piqued Luffy's interest enough to allow him to remember and think about the concept. He had heard plenty of rumours of the will of D. But he assumed that, that letter held more than just house wife chatter.

He then looked down at the pocket watch Luffy held, his mouth suddenly dropped, it was dark ebony with gold ornate patterns, back, hands and chain; Gol D. Roger was engraved on the back of the watch, and it appeared Luffy had recently engraved his own name under it. But what surprised Shanks most about the watch was not the fact he had seen Roger with it, nor that Roger had banned him from touching it. It surprised him because he had seen Luffy with it before, a long time ago, the memories from the past arose fresh in his mind, and he realized that time was about to start anew.

* * *

Luffy grumbled as he headed towards the forest, he'd set out on his own after both crew's had fallen asleep. Because even though Ace was buried on an island in the new world, Luffy believed his spirit would come to the place he was happiest.

He grumbled because Shanks hadn't explained why he was so shocked to see the pocket watch, he knew he hadn't told him what the one piece was, but only the pirate king could know that. He sighed as he walked past Dadan's hide out, he would go visit her with the crew tomorrow. But at the moment he wanted to be home.

He finally came across the old tree house, The huge tree still stood proud and tall like an old guardian of the forest, however, it's wood now looked rotted and vines and moss had taken over it, looking almost like a warm green blanket smothering a bed. This would always be his home, here and the Sunny. But the tree house brought up memories of a certain freckled man whereas the Sunny did not.

He stretched up his arms and launched himself inside. Apart from the moss, it was exactly the same as he had left it, the ASL flag pinned to the wall rather then set up on the roof, to protect it from the weather. He looked around, memories of his brothers together arising to the front of his mind. He had come here alone because he didn't want his crew to see him mourn. He hadn't really cried about his brothers death since the day he had awoken from his wounds after the war. But the pain was fresh as always, being with his crew and seeing Sabo alive again had helped. But unbeknownst to the rest of his crew he still relived the day in his dreams most nights; and no matter how many times he washed his hands his brothers crimson blood never seemed to wash off, he knew it wasn't there but somehow he could always see it, Ace's life force forever staining his hands.

He fell to his knees and wept. "Ace why did you break your promise," he wailed. "I've done it, I became The Pirate King, just like I promised I would. But I don't feel strong or free, if I was strong you would be here celebrating with me. How can I be the pirate king when I couldn't even save my brother?" Tears were falling down his eyes like a rapid stream, he gulped for air, and pulled in his knees tight to his chest and tucked his head down, as he let out all the pain he'd been harboring behind his smile for four years. "I was the reason you died. You said your only regret was that you'd never see me fulfill my dream. You died so I could have become the Pirate King. But all I want right now is to see you."

Luffy sat there crying until the light rays kissed the dark night sky. He stood up and left the tree house feeling empty and lonely, he did not look back once as he began to walk away, he needed to let go of the past.

He took out the pocket watch he had found on top of the letter Gol D. Roger had left with the one piece. His crew had allowed him to go and see the one piece on his own, so only he knew what it was. He had shown them the letter and the pocket watch however, those three items appeared to be the major things the Pirate King has left behind for his successor, of course there was a bunch of other cool stuff he'd let the crew keep, but most of it he had little interest in. He opened the pocket watch, the time said 5:00, his crew would wake up in a few hours. He was about to start heading back when he noticed the watch also had a smaller date circle inside it. The date was wrong, it was set to 25 years ago. Luffy began to fiddle with the nob to change the date. He'd gotten to 16 years ago when the world began to spin, Luffy was unused to the dizzying sensation and fell to the ground. He shut his eyes to try block out the spinning forest.

When he re-opened them again a pair of grumpy looking eyes stared back at him, he had freckles under those eyes and dark stygian black hair.

Luffy's eyes widened and he whispered.

"Ace?"

* * *

 **(A/N) Hope you enjoyed!  
**

 **Sorry for the cliff hanger, it feels a bit mean, it was just getting a bit long and I promised a chapter after the first review.**

 **EDIT: I am unsure as to whether Shanks/ Buggy actually know what the One Piece is, if so** **I might change a sentence or so here later on.**

 **Oh and to those worried it'll be a child Ace revival don't worry, it won't be, it's just kind of an intro to the time travel stuff.**

 **Thank you to all those who favourited and followed, and to my two reviewers, you made me so happy!**

 **Feedback is great!**

 **Tata all!**

 **UmbraAurumDragon Out!** **  
**


	3. Chapter 3- The Mini Trio

**(A/N) Enjoy**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, I'm not Oda**

 **P.S. It was my golden Labrador puppy's 12 week birthday today. :3  
His name is Ace...  
(I think I just heard you all role your eyes Hahahaha)**

* * *

 **Candle Heart**

 **Chapter 3- The Mini Trio**

The morning suns rays shone around the boy looking over him. The light was tinted an array of greens and mottled browns by the canopy above. But although the site was beautiful nothing could compare to the joy Luffy felt at seeing the figure above him.

"Ace?" Luffy asked in a whisper.

"Who the hell are you?" The kid asked rudely, an angry scowl on his face. "How do you know my name?" The boy stepped back a few steps and took a fighting stance, turning side on by shifting his feet apart whilst bending his knees and lowering his weight, lifting his arms, hands in clenched fists.

Luffy sat up.

It was Ace alright, before Makino had taught him manners. The dark mop of hair and brooding eyes, the way he talked and stood, the different shades of freckles under his eyes, the smell of sweat and of the forest all over him, although the smell of the ocean and smoke were not there, it still all seemed so familiar to Luffy like hearing an old song you'd forgotten. It had been too long.

There was something different about him though... He was mini...

Luffy didn't hesitate though; he wrapped his arms around his brother and pulled him to his chest, holding him tightly never wanting to let go. "Shishishishi, small mystery Ace." He said, a smile lighting up his face. "I missed you."

Ace however was not so happy.

"Oi! You weirdo! Let go of me baka!" he struggled in Luffy's arms pointlessly; The Pirate King had a strong grip on him. This went on for a few minutes until Luffy heard a sudden battle cry and felt something hit him on the back of the head.

He turned his head and saw a mini Sabo and some other mini brat that, wait... he thought, that was... him?

His eyes widened, and he let go of Ace for a mere millisecond so he could grab mini Sabo and mini him. He pulled all three of them into a tight embrace now, squishing them together.

He laughed in utter delight not even caring that all the boys were yelling. Mini him was chomping on his arm, his small arms were stretched out and wiggling every where like a knot of snakes; mini Sabo was hitting him over the head with some sort of pipe, and mini Ace had taken a brief pause in his attack for now and was pouting whilst scratching his head, trying to think of a way out. Unfortunately for Ace, thinking up complicated tactical plans wasn't his strong point at this age. Luffy laughed and just held them tighter, tears running down his face, everything was right for a mere few minutes.  
He had his brother back, even if it was just a dream, it was better then the others he'd had, he wasn't sure he wanted to wake up. The love he felt for his brothers was still so strong. He remembered, the loneliness he felt when he was this young, how being with Ace and Sabo made it go away. How it returned after he lost his brother. No matter what pain he went through nothing was worse than the loneliness he felt that day at marine ford. The empty dark pit of depression seemed to always oppress him and pull him down, holding him back from his freedom. His Nakama were always there, his loyal crew, but his brother could never be replaced.

But now he was here and for once he felt truly free.

He finally released the boys. As soon as he did they all jumped away and took their fighting stances Ace and Sabo unconsciously moving slightly in front of mini him, in a protective manner. All three of them looked at Luffy like he'd just stolen their meat; Luffy found this hilarious. He couldn't stop laughing, he was so happy, his vision seemed to be tinted a bright joyful yellow. The three boys circled him like vultures grumpy as all hell, and wanting to get revenge for the involuntary hug.

"You alright?" Sabo asked Ace.

"Yeah." He grumbled

"Who is he?" asked mini Luffy.

"I don't know, the piece of crap just popped out of no where and grabbed me."

"I don't like him." Luffy stated, earning him a whack over the head from his older self. Luffy wailed grabbing at his head.

"That hurt." He whined.

"Hey!" yelled Ace, don't touch my little brother! He ran at Luffy fists raised in challenge. Luffy merely grabbed his collar and lifted him into the air.

"Shishishishi, I remember you being stronger Ace." He chuckled. Ace was dangling from his arms trying to remove himself from Luffy's grasp.

That's when Luffy realized something, he remembered this, he remembered seeing a strange man holding Ace in the woods near the tree house, he remembered attacking him to free Ace. He remembered the man's laugh and tears. He remembered feeling hungry from all the chomping, wiggling and yelling he'd done, he remembered... He dropped Ace quickly, "Eh Oh..."

Luffy suddenly went flying into the nearest tree. He'd been distracted by Ace and didn't realise.

His Grandpa was nearby...

Luffy hadn't really seen much of Garp since the day at marine ford, not because Luffy blamed him, he knew Garp could've stopped him if he really wanted too. He believed Garp blamed himself. So hadn't made the time to see Luffy yet.

The younger Garp looked over at Luffy, a mix of curiosity and anger, evident on his face. He must've come to visit the boys, and heard their yells. Garp didn't appear to recognize Luffy. But Luffy new from past experience that Garp always let him and his brothers fight their own battles. So he must've seen Luffy as a deadly threat, probably due to his level of haki.

"Oi, you idiot brats, step back!" Garp demanded.

"No way!" They all replied in unison.

Time to go Luffy thought.

He stood up and ran off upset to leave Ace but he'd come back. After all even he wasn't stupid enough to mess with an angry Garp, even if Luffy was The Pirate King.

* * *

Luffy ran out of the forest and down the mountain heading towards the windmill village, everything looked so peaceful and almost exactly the same. He ran as fast as he could admiring the green rolling hills and the lazy wind mills that reminded him of Nami's pin wheels, along the way.

His brain hurt... He began to wonder if everything that happened, actually happened.

Then he heard it... The yells of the boys in pain, he remembered Garp hitting them for no reason. He then heard the sound of a bat shit crazy Garp thundering after him.

Stupid Grandpa, he pouted, he just wanted to talk to Ace.

He started running backwards along the road, trying to see if he could spot Garp. Then he hit something behind him, he turned around, and for the second time in one day he saw his old friend.

"Shanks!" he yelled. He then heard Garp yell again so he took cover behind the red haired man. "Don't let him find me." Luffy chuckled. Shanks looked at Luffy lost as to who this stranger was. Luffy grabbed Shanks's arm and pulled him inside the house Shanks had just walked out of. Seconds before what looked like a raging bull, thundered past.

The inside of the wooden house was small and cosy, with a crackling fireplace on one wall, and an occupied table in a corner. It smelled of roasted meat and smoke.

"Feeeewf, ahhh that was close." Luffy sighed as he slid to the ground against the wall. He really didn't want to get into a fight with the old man.

"Dahahahaha, what did you do to piss him off, stranger?" he asked Luffy.  
Luffy tilted his head confused for a second till he remembered the conclusion he'd come to just before he got launched at a tree. He was in the past. Shanks thought Luffy was a kid. He didn't recognize adult Luffy, especially considering his hat was hidden under his jacket on his back. For now Luffy decided, maybe it would be better to keep it a secret.

"Shishishishi, long story." He replied as he rubbed the back of his head.

"What's your name?" asked Shanks. Luffy thought about it for a minute.

"Lucy!" he said with a grin.

"Dahahahaha, I like you Lucy, it's nice to meet you, want to explain your story over a drink?" He asked.

Before Luffy could reply, he heard the thundering again, and it was getting closer.

"Shit!" yelled Shanks, over reacting to the situation. "Hey Lucy, I have a quick errand to run to a nearby island, I was about to leave anyway, want to come? It'll only be for a few days, and by the time you get back, that Vice Admiral will have calmed down." Luffy thought about it for a second, he really just wanted to go see Ace again. But he couldn't get close to him with Garp nearby, unless he wanted to beat him up.

"Shishishishi, sounds good, let's go!" Shanks smirked, nodded and led Luffy and his few crew mates he had with him out a back door.

* * *

That is how Luffy found himself aboard the Red Haired pirate's ship, sailing to some island close by. Luffy didn't mind at all, he loved being on the ocean again, being on the sea made Luffy feel free, he loved the salty breeze and the sound of the waves lapping up against the side of the boat. He also enjoyed Shanks's company he was always so laid back; they spent a lot of time talking together. The crew was also always friendly and partying; they had a constant supply of meat and sake, Luffy felt right at home. It wasn't dissimilar to the Sunny in some ways.

After quite a bit of partying Luffy fell asleep on the figure head for a while. His limbs hanging over either edge of the dragon head. Seeing Ace again was like a dream, the feelings were familiar, he felt the same way, as when he saw Sabo again in Dressrosa. He frowned, this was only temporary though, as much as he loved Ace he couldn't stay with him in the past; he was The Pirate King, his crew needed him. Plus he'd agreed to help Sabo with something to do with the revolutionary army. Luffy stuck one finger up his nose and the other rubbed the back of his head... How could he have both...? He thought for a while, different scenarios running through his mind... Eh... He was no good at this...

After a few hours a thought finally popped into his head. Luffy smiled in a way that used to worry Ace and Sabo, worried his crew now, and sent all his enemies running; he was up to something, something crazy, he had a plan, it would involve a certain red head and a freckled man.

But for the time being, he wanted sleep.

* * *

Shanks watched Luffy sleep on his dragon figure head, his black open coat, red shirt and dark hair blowing in the breeze; he had been with them for two days now, Shanks didn't know why Luffy was here at the age he was, or even how he had gotten here. But it hadn't taken Shanks long to realize it was him.

Lucy, really Luffy? He thought. He was honestly not surprised though it was Luffy after all. What did surprise him was the kids level of Haki, it was radiating off of him like heat. And the boy was holding it back significantly. It was terrifying, Luffy had truly at some point in the future, overtaken him, and lived up to his promise. No wonder Garp had gone after him. He was almost impossible to recognize, Shanks reckoned he was a few years younger than he himself was at the moment, which would make him around 15 years older than this time's Luffy. In those years, he hadn't changed too much except for the width of his shoulders, the strength of his jaw line, his stubble, his height, his power, and maybe he had matured a little, that was a bit of a stretch though, Shanks chucked to himself. There was definitely something different in his personality though, it was more developed, something had happened.

"Where are we headed?" Luffy suddenly asked, interrupting Shanks's train of thought.

"One of my crew members wanted a new sword; we're going to go pick one up." Shanks replied.

"Ahhhhhh ok." Luffy said before leaning back down, looking like he was going back to sleep, apparently not finding the topic all that interesting.

Geez that boy, thought Shanks, he had the simplest mind out of anyone he knew. But he couldn't help, but be fond of him, and proud of what he would become.

"Shanks?" Luffy began, looking up. "Can you do a favour for me?"

"Sure, what is it?" he replied puzzled, Luffy sounded different, serious almost.

"Could you help me, save my brother...?"

* * *

 **(A/N) There it is, I hope you enjoyed.**

 **I replied to all the reviews except the guest review via private messaging.**

 **Guest reviewer: I don't want to rush this too much, I'm estimating the Ace revival part will be within the next 5 chapters. Sound good? Thanks for your review and support.**

 **I actually woke up after writing the last chapter and saw all the Reviews and Follows and Favourites and got so excited Thank you all!**

 **Thank you again, so so much!**

 **TATA!**

 **UmbraAurumDragon Out!  
**


	4. Chapter 4- A Plan is Formed

**(A/N) Hello again all, here is the next chapter!**

 **I have finally written out the plot, and if I write it well it should be great! It'll be pretty long too.**  
 **ACE WILL BE IN IT SOON! ish. Give me a couple more chapters, this stuff will be complicated.**

 **Oh and there will be an OC Just a warning!**

 **Thank you for all your support. please continue to read and enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: Not Oda, Don't own One Piece.**

 **PP.S Sorry for the long (A/N)**

* * *

 **Candle Heart**

 **Chapter 4- Luffy Meets a Ghost/ A Plan is Formed**

"Your brother..." Shanks asked. He never knew Luffy had a brother.

"Yosh!" Luffy said, his sharp expression relaxing.

"What would this involve?" He asked?

"I recently heard of a devil fruit that could help; I want you to find either the fruit or its user, for me. K?" Luffy asked.

"What would I get out of this deal?" Shanks asked. Instantly interested. "Sounds like a lot of work to me." He teased. Shanks had already decided he'd help Luffy, he'd rarely seen him so serious. And Luffy never ever thought out complicated plans. He was impressed, and he hadn't even heard the plan yet. Luffy really had changed from the snot nosed kid Shanks knew. But Shanks wasn't going to let on he was going to help, he wanted to know more first.

"We're friends aren't we?" Luffy asked head tilting to the side.

"We only met a couple of days ago..."

"Shishishishi, I know you have figured it out Shanks." Shanks smirked, the idiot was a lot better at picking up on things then he used to be.

"You're such an idiot Luffy!" He said as he roared with laughter. Luffy joined in his merriment and laughed too. "So you have a brother?" He asked.

"Yosh! I have two! Sabo and Ace. Ace is the one I need help with."

"Before you go any further Luffy," Shanks interrupted, raising his hand. "Can you tell me how you got here?"

"Oh, yeah," Luffy said, pulling out his pocket watch. "With this; whatever date you change the little handle to, will be the time you end up in." Shanks inspected the watch. "It's a mystery watch." Luffy said with a smile. Shanks's jaw dropped that was...

"Luffy, where did you get this?"

"Found it with the One Piece." He chuckled.

"Wait! No Way! You? You? Did it?" Shanks asked, wide eyed.

"Shishishishi, of course, I promised I would didn't I?"

"Yeah, but you're only what twenty...?"

"Three." Luffy finished for him.

"Wow, only four years younger than me, this is weird." Luffy chuckled in agreement.

"So this brother of yours, what happened?" Luffy grabbed his straw hat from under his jacket and placed it over his lowered head. His eyes looked as intense as a lioness hunting her prey.

"He died, around six years ago in my time."

"Oh," replied Shanks, any mirth he had now gone. "What happened?"

"He was a part of Whitebeard's crew. They were betrayed and Ace was captured by the marines. Whitebeard started a war the day of his execution. He lost, Ace died in my arms; he saved me."

Oh Luffy, Shanks thought to himself, glancing down thinking for a second; a kid shouldn't have to go through that.

"So what's this idiotic plan of yours Luffy?" Shanks's asked. Luffy's face instantly lit up.

"Shishishishi, you're going to love it Shanks!" Luffy replied with his famous face splitting grin.

"Land ho!" A sudden voice yelled from above.

"Sorry Luffy, can this wait a few hours?" Asked Shanks.

"Shishishishi, of course, I have time." Luffy replied, a sneaky smile lighting up his face.

* * *

As the sun went to rest on the sea behind them, Luffy and Shanks watched as the island began to come into view on the dark horizon. The island was large; dark purple mountains could be seen behind the village, the farms and the green hills. As the ship got closer the village lights turned on one by one, they looked like twinkling glowing bugs. In the fading light, the houses could be seen to have white walls and ornate dark roofs.

"We won't need to stay long Luffy, we'll just go to the Dojo, pick up the sword and go. Sound good?

"Did you say meat?" Luffy asked hanging over the edge of the railing sniffing the air, almost completely ignoring what the older man had said.

"Hmmmmmm where are we, it smells good?"

"Shimotsuki Village." Replied Shanks, sighing. Luffy blinked, eyes widening as he did so.

"That sounds... familiar." Luffy muttered scratching his dark hair.

The ship made dock at the jetty, Shanks's crew were busy as beavers, running around tying up ropes. Luffy and Shanks walked down the gangplank, Luffy was itching to run and get food. They came to a large building with a sign saying "Isshin Dojo". That name sounded familiar to Luffy too. They walked inside the gate, there were buildings surrounding a huge yard, with paths leading off in different directions. "Luffy wait here," stated Shanks. "Don't do anything crazy and we'll have a feast when we get back to the ship ok?"

"But I'm hungry now..." whined Luffy. He plonked himself on the ground cross legged and pouting but he stayed put. Shanks and some members of his crew walked up the steps to the deck of a building. He slid open the door and walked in.

* * *

Luffy tried to sit still, he really did, but his attention was beginning to wander. He stood up and walked down one of the paths. He wandered around for a while until he heard a grunting noise. Curious he followed it. He came upon a garden with a stream running through it. A boy stood near the stream, he was lifting a heavy boulder on his shoulders, he appeared to be around nine years old. He was wearing a dark green training suit, a red symbol of two crossed swords was to the left side of his chest; it was tied at the waste by a white sash. The boy's most noticeable feature though, was his spiky green hair.

Zoro? Luffy thought looking at his first mate.

Luffy had always wondered what Zoro's childhood was like; he knew he had become the best fighter to keep a promise to an old friend that died. But Zoro wasn't really the talkative type.

Luffy watched him train; marveling at how much stronger Zoro has gotten since he was a kid. He then heard someone come and sit next to him.

"Hey you! Do you know him?" She asked. Luffy turned around to face the dark haired girl.

"Yosh," Luffy said his smile widening. "He's my nakama."

"Really?" She asked skeptically "He hasn't mentioned you."

"Shishishishi, we haven't met yet."

"What are you talking about?" she snapped.

"I'm from the future," Luffy said, not even batting an eye. "How do you know him?"

"We're rivals," she began to explain before stopping. "Hey don't change the subject, who are you?"

"Monkey D. Luffy, King of the Pirates."

"Yeah sure" She said sarcastically.

"Shishishishi, don't believe me?" he asked.

"Of course not you weirdo." Luffy then took off his hat and took out a picture hidden on the inside. It was with a few other pictures and vivre cards. He handed it to her. She took it and her jaw dropped.

"See? It's Zoro." Luffy stated. The picture he'd given her was of his whole crew, Zoro stood off to the side of the picture, a smirk on his face, a bottle of Sake in hand."

"It does look like him." She said. Luffy didn't notice but her cheeks were turning slightly pink looking at the picture.

"He's the strongest swordsman in the world." Luffy said with a laugh. The girls face dropped, anger quickly replacing interest.

"That's a lie!"

"No, Zoro trained for ages, said he made a promise to a girl. He beat up Dracule Mihawk, now he's officially the strongest. I'd expect nothing less from my crew."

"Zoro would never become a pirate! And he won't become the strongest swordsman, I will! He's nothing more than a weakling!"

"Shishishishi, you'll have to fight Zoro for that title then." Stated Luffy. The girl narrowed her eyes not happy with what Luffy was saying. She suddenly sighed her expression dropping.

"No, if he is as strong as you say he is in the future I'll never beat him I'm just a girl."

"What do you mean just a girl?"

"Boys are stronger then girls. As I get older I'll only get weaker."

"That's crap!" Shouted Luffy his hands going in the air. "I know plenty of strong females! And Zoro didn't become strong because he's a boy! He became strong because he's a pirate and he had a dream and a promise to keep."

"Yeah whatever you say." She said standing up. She was about to hand the picture back to Luffy when something caught her eye.

"That's Wado Ichimonji... my sword..." She said looking confused. "Why does Zoro have it?"

"Hmm," Luffy said looking up at her. "Oh, the white one? That's Zoro's favourite, he's had it for longer than I've known him. The other two are new; he uses three sword style you know? Shishishishi."

"Luffy?" She asked. "When you go back to the future, can you do something for me?"

"Yea, sure what?"

"Ask him about Kuina?"

"Is that you?"

"Yea," She said. "Tell him I said hello, and to come visit me, I need to beat him remember, I couldn't lose to a weak boy like him."

"Shishishishi, sure"

"Luffy!" A voice called in the distance. "I thought I told you to stay put!"

"Gotta go!" Luffy said with a smile, he took the picture from Kuina and ran off without another word.

* * *

As Luffy got close he heard the end of a conversation between Shanks and another man.

"Thank you so much for this Koshiro."

"It's no problem at all Red Hair, after everything you've done for us it's a pleasure to help."

"See you!" Shanks turned and gave a long sword to one of his crew members and fare welled the man.

"Shanks, I'm hungry! You all done?"

"Dahahahaha, yes Luffy, let's go." They waved goodbye and walked off. Luffy smiled and waved at the girl he'd befriended. He noticed Zoro standing behind her.

"See you in a few years Zoro!" He chuckled. "Don't get lost!"

Zoro looked at him confused. Luffy roared with laughter at his mini Nakama.

"You know the boy?" Shanks asked.

"Yea, he's my first mate." Luffy answered. Shanks looked back and smiled.

"He looks like he'll be strong." He stated.

"Shishishishi. Yeah he will be."

* * *

Luffy sat on the figurehead again, quite content with the fill he'd had. They'd left the island and were heading back home. Shanks came out onto the deck, his black cloak blowing in the wind, one sleeve blowing slightly more then the other.

"So, you going to tell me the rest of this plan of yours Luffy?" Shanks asked.

"Well, I would really like to just run in and beat everyone up, but I don't remember future me being there, so I have to make it seem like I'm not."

"Uh-huh" Said Shanks, kind of getting what Luffy meant.

"That's where you come in Shanks! You find where this devil fruit or its user is. Future you will tell me, and I'll go to the time where you find it. Ask the person to save Ace in the future and then bring Ace with me to my time."

"What...?" Shanks thought it through in his head. How would that work? "Luffy, what's the devil fruit you want me to find?"

"The illusion illusion fruit. They'll make every one see Ace die, then we can save him."

Shanks's jaw dropped, it could actually work. However there were a few inconsistencies.

"What about his body Luffy? People will want to bury him."

Luffy thought for a second. He hadn't thought of that it appeared.

"Shishishishi, new plan! There was a guy there that I think can help with that." Luffy smiled.

"Ok Luffy, tell me everything that happened in detail, and I'll help you figure it out."

Luffy smiled and paused for a second staring out to the starry horizon.

"Shanks?" He asked.

"Yeah Luffy?"

"Thanks." He smiled and lowered his straw hat over his eyes. Though he tried to hide it, Shanks still saw the shining tear that rolled down his face and dripped to the ground.

* * *

 **(A/N)** **Hope You enjoyed!**

 **If you want a kind of spin off of this chapter then let me know, but in this story Luffy won't be returning to this island.**

 **Guest Reviewers:**

 **Friendly Reader: Thank you so much! (You are seriously the best, you Review so much!)**  
 **My exam went well, did all the multi choice in the perusal and the essay question was "What affect's Microbial Growth?" EASY PEASY!**  
 **I might put up a romance story up after I finish this one. Not sure.**

 **Wow: Thanks, and Thanks for your input! will be longer than 15 chapters, and there won't be any romance. Other POV's will come later. At the moment it's only Shanks and Luffy. (And Usopp earlier.)**

 **Rest of reviews were replied via PM.**

 **Thank you to those who reviewed, favourited and followed.**

 **TATA!**

 **(Again sorry for the long (A/N))**

 **UmbraAurumDragon OUT!**


	5. Chapter 5- Return

**(A/N)** **Thank you all who have been reading the story and Favouriting, Following and Reviewing.**

 **I may have underestimated how long this section would take... So Ace might not come in for another 2 chapters...  
**

 **But I update every 1-3 days so that's not too far away! And I included a character you all love in this one to apologize!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece, not Oda.**

 **P.S, BlackGriffon made a request it'll be in the next chapter or the one after! Though he/ she did guess something right, that'll happen in this chapter.**

* * *

 **Candle Heart**

 **Chapter 5- Return**

The Pirate ship floated slowly into the bay, it had been five days since Luffy had come to this time and he wanted nothing more than to go see Ace, but he had spent the past few days organizing the plan to save his older brother, so the quicker he got to his time, the sooner he got to save him.

"Are you going straight home Luffy?" asked Shanks.

"Yosh!" Luffy replied

"I guess this is goodbye then kid."

"Shishishishi, yeah. I'll see you soon though."

"It'll be a while till I see you though, but I promise I'll find the girl you're looking for and the devil fruit or its user."

"Thanks Shanks! See ya!" And within a blink of an eye, without another word the Pirate King was gone.

"Dahahahaha, come on everyone," Shanks said to his crew. "We have a devil fruit to find."

* * *

Luffy headed back towards the tree house, keeping a constant watch out for his insane grandpa all the way, but it didn't appear there was anyone around the tree house today. His haki was only picking up the odd animal.

It was time to go home. Luffy hoped it worked, otherwise all the planning was for nothing. He took out his pocket watch. He opened it up and began changing the date to the exact time he was from. But before he faded away he glanced back up at the tree house, looking so well loved and cared for, the canopy above a protective blanket for his old home.

"I'm not giving up on you yet."

The world started spinning again just as it had before.

* * *

"Ehhhh, where did the others go?" Zoro said, scratching at his head. "I wish they would keep up for once." He then saw a clearing up ahead. He headed towards it. In the clearing was a huge tree containing a tree house. Zoro looked around, this place felt peaceful it had a certain life about it that couldn't be explained.

He sat down on the ground, someone would find him with haki eventually, but he wanted a nap. That stupid captain of his had gone missing, and they had to all go out and look for him. Zoro snorted, Luffy would be fine.

He leaned against a tree behind him and placed his swords next to himself. He closed his eyes and began to doze off. Dreams of sake and swords flittering across his semi-conscious mind.

A sudden noise woke Zoro; he stood up and looked around, his hands reaching towards his swords. He walked to the centre of the clearing; the haki seemed different, it felt like a raging storm was brewing around him yet the air was still. It calmed after a second; the swordsman shrugged and headed back to his tree, when suddenly his haki twinged, that was.

"OH SHIT!" Zoro yelled looking up into the sky before he found himself knocked flat on the ground in a tangle of rubbery arms.

"Shishishishi, oh is that you Zoro? Thanks for breaking my fall, don't know why I appeared in the air."

"YOU BAKA! WHY MUST YOU ALWAYS LAUNCH YOURSELF AT PEOPLE?"

"Hahahaha, sorry Zorro." The Pirate King said already beginning to walk off."

"Luffy! Wait!" The swordsman said jogging to catch up to Luffy. "Where have you been? You've been missing for hours; if you're going to run off at least tell us where you're going first."

Luffy completely ignored the question and instead asked one of his own. "Heeeey Zoro?" The swordsman sighed; he should be used to Luffy's crap by now. "What?" He asked.

"Who is Kuina?"

To say that question took Zoro by surprise would be an understatement, how had Luffy known that name. He hadn't told him her name. He couldn't lie to his captain so he merely asked.

"Why? Where did you hear it?"

"She told me to tell you hello and that she wants a match." Luffy chuckled.

"That's impossible Luffy," replied Zoro, his vision downcast. "She died a long time ago."

* * *

"There you are Zoro!" Nami said as he walked inside the old bandit's hideout. "We thought we'd have to put out a search party for you too, but apparently you weren't too lost."

"Shishishishi, he was totally lost." Luffy said walking in behind the green haired man.

"Luffy!" the whole group exclaimed, happy to see him.

"Yo!" He said raising an arm.

"Where have you been?" yelled Nami a demonic look on her face. "We're supposed to go meet Sabo soon and you're fooling around!"

"Probably out playing in that rotten tree, aye brat?" a larger older woman Nami now new as Dadan said.

"Shishishishi, yep!" Luffy said smiling at his old guardian.

"You look like an idiot with that fuzz on your face" she said.

"Oh yeah. Haven't had time to shave. Hey I'm hungry, can I have some meat?"

"Go get your own food." She snapped.

"Ok," Luffy said heading back out the door, he paused briefly and looked back. "It was nice seeing you again Dadan. Oh... and Ace, he wanted to say hello. " He smiled and walked out, the rest of the crew followed close behind. Nami was about to walk through the door when she turned back and saw tears trickling down the ginger haired woman's face.

"It was nice seeing you to, you little brat." She whispered under her breath.

* * *

"These will do." Luffy stated looking out across a herd of wild boars. "They'll make a great lunch. Sanji can you cook them?"

"Yea sure." He said taking out a cigarette and lighting it.

"Great, but first, I want to ride one." Before anyone had a chance to stop him, let alone move, Luffy had already flung himself on top of the largest boar.

"GIDDY UP!" Luffy shouted.

That stupid idiot, Sanji thought to himself in the few seconds before the boars began to stampede the rest of the crew. Luffy was riding the one in the front smiling, laughing and enjoying every second of his wild ride. Nami, Usopp, Brook, Franky and Chopper turned heel and ran. The others along with Sanji stayed put, their haki causing the pigs to go around them.

"Baka's," Zoro said watching them go. "They all know haki and all could easily beat them but they still run."

"Nami Swaaan!" Sanji yelled running after the boars. "LUFFY I SWEAR IF SHE IS HURT YOU'RE NOT GETTING MEAT FOR A YEAR!" Robin chucked at her captain and cooks antics.

"I wonder if they'll run off a cliff." She stated absentmindedly. Following after Sanji. Sanji's jaw dropped and he ran faster.

"That'd be so typical of that idiot." Zoro sighed.

"We'd just have to save them." Jinbe commented.

They came to a clearing and stopped.

"At least they didn't fall off the cliff." Zoro said.

"No they just ran into it and got squashed by a hundred pigs! Luffy! Get out here." Sanji yelled.

"Shishishishi, Sanji! I caught them all." Luffy said. They looked up and there was Luffy hanging upside down from a branch half way up the cliff. "We can have a feast!"

"Don't we have to go?" Nami said detangling herself from the others and the boars. Usopp's nose was all that could be seen under a pile of pigs. Chopper was squished between two pigs, and Brook was underneath the hind quarters of another huge beast.

"Oh yeah!" Luffy said. "I forgot to tell you, I have something important to do with Shanks. You guys are going to see Sabo without me."

"WHAT THE HELL LUFFY!?" They shouted.

"Don't you want to see Sabo?" Chopper asked his voice weird because he was still squashed.

"I will, I'll catch up with you guys I just have something to do first."

"I assume you'll want this then?" Nami stated holding out an Ebony whistle.

"Oh thanks Nami, I was going to ask if I could borrow it." Luffy said jumping down and grabbing it.

"You better not lose that." Sanji stated."

"I won't! I'm going to head to the ship for a second I need to call someone."

"Ok we'll SUPER! come with you and cast off once we've eaten and you're done." Stated Franky.

"Yosh, Let's go!"

* * *

Once Luffy had eaten he walked into the room that contained the ship's main transponder snail. It had a huge range so it would hopefully reach who Luffy wanted it to. He made sure he was alone. Luffy wanted his plan to be a surprise to his crew. He picked up the receiver and put in the number. It rang twice before it clicked. A voice came from the line.

"What do you want Straw Hat-ya."

"Tra-Guy!" Luffy shouted into the receiver. "Can you do something for meee?"

"No."

"Wait! I thought we were friends?"

"No."

"Pleeeeaaaaasssseeee?" Luffy begged. Law sighed on the line.

"What do you want?"

"I need you to come to Foosha Village in a few days; I'll have a patient I want you to treat."

"Luffy I'm half way through the grandline; can't your own doctor help you?"

"No my crew are doing a favour for me."

"Well I can't help goodbye."

"Waaaaaaiiiiit! I'll come to you."

"No."

"What if I do something for you?" Luffy suggested. Law paused for a second.

"No, it's not worth your shit."

"Please!? Tra-Guy? It's for my brother." Law paused again.

"Sabo?"

"No Ace!"

"Your brother is dead Luffy."

"Shishishishi, I know, I'm going to save him." There was another pause on the line.

"How?"

"There was some pretty cool stuff with the One Piece." Luffy chuckled.

"Are you saying you have something that can change the past?"

"Yosh."

"Ok Luffy, I'll help but I want you to do something in return. There's someone in the past I also want to save."

"Deal!"

* * *

After Luffy had answered all the questions Law had about the plan he hung up and went up on deck. That's one of the five pieces in place for the plan. It was now time for the second. "We'll be heading off now Luffy." Franky told him.

"Don't do anything stupid ok?" Nami told him.

"Shishishishi, no promises." He replied. Nami sighed. Luffy waved goodbye before jumping onto the dock. "See ya's!" They all waved back with different levels of worry on their faces. Luffy smiled and ran towards the village. He needed to know where he was heading next.

* * *

Luffy walked into Makino's bar and just as he expected, Shanks was there drinking with his crew.

"Shanks!" He greeted walking up to the man.

"Hey Luffy! Where have you been, your crew were looking for you."

"I caught up with them. I want to talk to you though."

"Sure what is it?"

"Did you find it?" Luffy asked sitting down on the bar stool excitement in his eyes. "Did the plan work? Is Ace alive, did you find the other girl?"

"Dahahahaha, so that's where you've been."

"Shanks! Hurry up!"

"Chill out Luffy! Everything went according to plan."

"So Ace is alive?"

"Well the plan worked, but I didn't see you before you headed back to this time so I don't know." Shanks chuckled. Luffy pouted before asking. "So where is the devil fruit?"

"A young girl ate it quite a few years back. Go to about 10 years ago and you'll find her."

"Where?"

"On the Grandline, in a world government construction site. She's a slave, her name is Kiko Yume."

* * *

This made things difficult, Luffy thought to himself walking to the outskirts of the village, he'd have to go free the young girl, convince her to help him and bring her with him to the time of the War of the Best.

He sighed at least he had Nami's whistle so he could get around without trouble. He took out his pocket watch and changed the dial to the required date. The world started spinning again. He found himself in the exact same place 10 years ago.

He took out Nami's whistle, it was one of the more important things he'd found with the One Piece. But he'd let her keep it so she could travel to the sky islands and see the world from above for her map.

He blew hard on the whistle.

After about ten minutes a giant black bird flew down from the sky.

Robin had said it looked like a wedge tail eagle crossed with a male long tailed widow bird. But to Luffy it was.

"SAKATORI!"

The bird didn't seem to know who he was, Luffy remembered befriending him relatively... easily when they first met, but the giant bird looked not so nice at the moment.

"Looks like I'll have to tame you."

He jumped on the birds back just before it lifted off into the air.

* * *

 **(A/N) Hope you enjoyed!**

 **Thank you all for your support. Remember if you want spin offs from things I leave open such as Zoro's story with Kuina (Already doing) and Law's with Corazon, ask for them. (They will be separate)**

 **Oh and I changed like the first sentence in the last chapter, I was going to change it before I put it up and forgot, then BlackGriffon101 pointed it out, it's nothing major just thought you should know.**

 **Guest Reviewers:**

 **Wow: Yes I do! I always get excited at any review! So you are most welcome!  
Hahaha yes that is the gist of it, but it's going to be rather complicated. Which is why Shanks helped him out. (I doubt Luffy would be that smart even in 7 years time HAHAHA)  
Well I do see Shanks as a mentor to Luffy, but he's so much stronger and older now, I reckon Shanks would treat him like an adult/ equal and with respect. He's the strongest man on the sea after all.  
Thank you for your review I hope you keep reading and enjoying!**

 **SteppedOnaLeggoOw: I know! I wrote this because almost all the Ace resurrection stories I've read weren't finished or they interrupted with the story way too much, and I thought it would be fun.  
I'm trying to keep the characters in character as much as possible, I've researched personalities and common phrases and watched heaps of old episodes to get them right, so I'm glad you think so. I do think I made Luffy a bit too smart though, but he did come up with the plan in Albasta to wet crocodile to beat him, so apparently he can come up with plans if he really wants to.  
Ace will be in it soon!  
Give me a couple more chapters it's going to be complicated but I hope it'll surprise you.  
OW! I know that pain all to well!  
Thank you!**

 **Rest of the reviews replied via PM**

 **TATA ALL!**

 **UmbraAurumDragon OUT!**


	6. Chapter 6- Kiko Yume

**(A/N) It's Thursday! So the next chapter is out!**

 **Thanks for the Follows, Favourites and Reviews. WE GOT TONNES FOR THE LAST CHAPTER.** **THE VIEWS DOUBLED! Thank you ALL!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or it's characters. I'm not nearly as talented as Oda.**

 **ENJOY!**

* * *

 **Candle Heart**

 **Chapter 6- Kiko Yume**

That bird is a pain in the ass, thought Luffy to himself, it had already shook him off nine times, and if it hadn't been for the fact Luffy could stretch his arms up and grab the bird, he would have fallen into the ocean and drowned.

He'd managed to wrap his arms around the bird's beak in a halter like fashion so he could steer the bird, but it still occasionally decided to nose dive to try shake the Pirate King off.

"Stupid bird! We're friends so cut it out!" He said for the hundredth time. The bird didn't seem to think so though.

Luffy felt heart broken, he and Sakatori had become really close. He respected the majestic bird, it wasn't just a symbol he had inherited as pirate king, the bird had become a member of his crew.

The bird flew on, it's dark wings and tail looked like the cloak of a phantom, the feathers stretching out behind them. They contrasted with the sea and even more so with the early afternoon sun. They would have to stop to eat and sleep soon. Luffy's destination was still a few days away.

* * *

Yume had become very used to the symphony of thuds, clanks and bangs over the past year, slaves were always working here. She had moved from a Celestial Dragon house slave to a construction slave only recently, the reason; because one of the Celestial Dragons had seen her and thought she was a demon child due to her mosaic eye. Both her eyes were a bright blue except the right one had a thick brown segmented section.

They had sent her here so she could die. No child had survived more than three years constructing the new city. And she assumed she would not either.

She had finally finished her days work, and was exhausted but there was one thing she had to do before she went to sleep.

She snuck downstairs and into the garden outside, she had one friend in the whole world and that was a cat she had dubbed Grumpy, as that was his shining personality trait. She went and sat in under a bush he liked to sleep in and unravelled a tiny parcel of food she had saved. The cat came slowly over, staying low to the ground. It ate the food provided to it and sat in Yume's lap. She allowed herself to feel comforted by the animal for a while, until she heard the sound of footsteps drawing near, a guard.

She heard the raspy breath of the man coming closer; he was so close now she could smell the foul odour of his sweat. Her heart was racing.

Thud thud thud thud...

The footsteps were getting louder and fear was consuming Yume. If she got beaten again she knew she wouldn't survive.

The man kept walking without noticing her hideout under the bush and she released the breath she hadn't known she had been holding. She relaxed again, she hadn't been caught. Yume didn't want to push her luck though, she set Grumpy aside on the ground and was about to stand up and return to her room when something grabbed her from behind.

She was yanked out of the bushes and was lifted and turned in the air. The man who had just walked past had grabbed her by the collar and had lifted her light frame to face him. Yume was so close to the man she could see the yellowing of his teeth and could smell the repugnant odour that was his breath. He smiled showing more of his crooked yellow teeth.

"Hey you," he said with a sickly sweet smile. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

* * *

Luffy was really hungry now, they hadn't found any land and the sun had long since set. They had been traveling for many hours now, and the bird was getting tired. It was no surprise considering the speed it was traveling at, they were about to reach the calm belt.

The calm water looked more like a mirror then an ocean. It reflected everything in the sky, the moon, stars and the two figures in the air. Nothing could be seen on the whole horizon, so to Luffy it felt like the stars above and beneath them would go on forever. There was not a sound except for the beating of the bird's thick black wings. Luffy would have been cold but the bird beneath him was warm and the feathers were soft.

The bird seemed to reflect the calmness of the surroundings himself and didn't cause any trouble. Luffy considered taking a nap. He lay out on the black feathers, and slept.

* * *

Yume couldn't move, she couldn't breathe, she was terrified. She had no idea what the man would do to her, but she doubt she'd live to see the end of it.

She was shaking terribly; her heart felt like it was going to beat right out of her chest. The man was laughing at her fear. He shoved her to the ground and reached for a whip at his side. All Yume could do was whimper; she was frozen in fear, her fight or flight responses apparently broken. The man now had the whip out and was slowly lifting it above his head. She knew she wouldn't survive, but she still wanted to live. The man was about to bring the whip down, when a black and white puff ball jumped at his face, hissing and scratching him. The man let out a horrid scream and tried to claw the cat away. He jumped off the man's face and hissed at Yume.

Yume got the message and ran off, grateful for her friends sacrifice. She ran inside and into her alcove in the woman's room. She fell onto the cold ground, her only possession there being a dirty blanket, yet she still wept into it, mourning her only friend.

After a few hours a different guard from before woke her up so she could resume work again. He didn't mention anything that occurred yesterday, in fact he seemed to appear bored and disinterested in her. She was safe.

* * *

Luffy was suddenly awoken by the birds screams. He opened his eyes and saw huge jaws closing in front of them. Luffy wouldn't have been too worried at this except they were on the inside of them. Luffy's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"Stupid bird! You got us eaten!"

The bird was still flapping around inside the monsters mouth trying to avoid the back of its throat and it's scaly tongue. But it was to no avail the bird was tired and the two of them fell towards the back of the throat.

Luffy wrapped one of his arms around the sea kings uvula; he stretched himself up and held on to the dangling thing for dear life. At some point during the night though Luffy's make shift halter had been unwound from the birds head, so the bird was still falling down into the abyss.

"Sakatori!" Luffy yelled stretching out his other hand and grabbing the bird. He was heavy but Luffy still pulled him up.

Once they were both secure on the uvula Luffy had a plan.

He would beat up the stupid sea king from the inside.

He made sure he held a tight grip on the uvula and bird with one hand. He then sent haki into the other. He bit into his thumb.

"Third gear!" his arm expanded and he reached back.

"Elephant gun!" He punched up into the soft pallet of the sea king. The whole sea kings body moved upwards with the massive force of the punch. The beast's mouth opened and they were suddenly flung out of its mouth. The bird seemed to think getting away was more important than exhaustion. So it recovered mid-air and flew quickly away from the sea king.

"Wait!" Luffy yelled. "Go back! He would have made a good breakfast!"

The bird shook its head, and just kept on flying.

* * *

Yume was lifting heavy stone from the quarry towards the construction site. She was already exhausted, physically and emotionally. She missed Grumpy. She was about half way to the building being constructed, when she saw the man from yesterday walk right up to her, she froze, terror returning to her body. But he walked right past her without even a glance. He was covered in scratches and bandages, and he did not look impressed. Yume whimpered and went back to work.

Once she had finished her eight hour shift she was allowed a fifteen minute lunch break. She lined up for her food and took it to the garden outside the sleeping quarters to eat.

She sat near the bush where she had been yesterday. She was allowed to be here now but that thought was bittersweet because Grumpy wasn't there.

It was when she was thinking this thought exactly when he crawled out from underneath the bushes like he always did, jumped into her lap and began eating her food.

She was so ecstatic she picked him up and twirled him around. She giggled for the first time in many years.

"My hero!"

The cat looked at her with an expression befitting his name. She put him on the ground and let him eat the rest of her lunch.

"This must be why that guard was so grumpy," She giggled. "You managed to get away."

* * *

Landing proved difficult, the bird did not want to follow any directions Luffy gave it. Stubborn bastard. Luffy had never had this much trouble training an animal. It was time to take a different approach, but Luffy wasn't happy about it.

The bird finally decided to dive, but this time, Luffy needed it to stay down. When it got close to the island bellow Luffy jumped off of its back and wrapped one arm around the bird and another around a super-sized tree. The inertia from the acceleration caused the bird to curve around the tree. As this happened Luffy let go, the bird slammed into another huge tree, and slid to the ground. Luffy jumped down and walked over to it.

"Shishishishi, wait here, I'm getting breakfast."

The bird gave him an evil eye but stayed put.

A few hours later Luffy walked back with a huge well-cooked buffalo on his shoulders. He set it down in front of the bird, and started eating his half.

Luffy hated to share but this bird would get him to the girl that would help him save Ace.

The bird wasn't moving though, it looked at the food almost drooling over it, but it stayed put.

Luffy grabbed one of the buffalo's hind legs and chucked it at the bird, knocking it over.

"Eat!"

The bird gave him an indignant look, but it did what it was told.

Afternoon rolled around again, they both finished eating and resting, Luffy looked to the bird.

"Can we go now?" The bird squawked irritably, but lowered his back for Luffy to get on.

"Yosh! Let's go!

The bird took off its long tail trailing behind it, as it headed towards the horizon.

* * *

It had been a few days since the incident and all seemed well to Yume. She hadn't snuck off since then either, and she hoped the whole thing would be forgotten.

She was not that lucky.

She was working late one day when in the center of the yard the guard whom had found her was standing up on the announcement platform.

He was holding Grumpy in the air by the tail the poor cat was bruised and beaten. The nameless guard pulled out a gun preparing to shoot the cat. He yelled out.

"This is what happens to vermin here!"

Yume squeaked, no she didn't want to lose him again.

He took off the safety and was prepping his finger on the trigger when a large dark mass dropped from the sky on top of him.

Grumpy ran from the mess of feathers, and jumped into Yume's arms.

"You are one lucky cat." She whispered into his fur.

A man on top of the black mass, that Yume realised was a huge bird, jumped up and laughed. He shouted "Where is Kiko Yume!?"

Yume froze, why was this man looking for her? He was tall, with broad shoulders dark hair and stubble lining is jaw. He wore a red shirt and blue shorts covered by a long dark coat. At first she thought he didn't look that dangerous. He appeared young and was rather thin. But on closer inspection she noticed he had thick muscles and a crazy dark look in his wide eyes which contrasted to his kind large smile.

At that point the guard got out from under the bird and looked around. He saw Grumpy in Yume's arms and his expression tightened. "You!" He took out his gun again and pointed it at her. He was about to pull the trigger but was again interrupted. This time with a punch in the face from the strange man who was looking for her. The guard fell flat on his back and didn't move.

The man walked over to her and smiled. "Hey, do you know where Kiko Yume is?" She gulped scared of the man.

"That's me." She stuttered.

"Oh, you're younger than I thought you'd be. Want to come with me?" He asked. Yume was shaking uncontrollably now.

"I can't leave. I'm a slave."

"Not anymore, I'm freeing you Yume."

Her mouth dropped and she looked wide eyed at the man.

"Free?"

"Yosh," He replied chuckling whilst, holding a hand out to her. "Let's go!"

Grumpy didn't hesitate and jumped from her arms onto the ground then onto the birds back. The bird stood at its full height. It was the most majestic creature she had ever seen. She hesitated, she didn't know this man, and if she was caught she would be killed.

But Grumpy trusted him and the bird, so she decided to too.

She grabbed hold of the man's hand and nodded.

* * *

 **(A/N) So I enjoyed writing the last chapter much more than this one. Interactions with the crew are always great.  
But I still hope you enjoy this one! The next one should be more exciting, This chapter is pretty much just introducing the OC.**

 **On a brighter note, Ace will be in it soon!**

 **IT'S SO CLOSE I CAN TASTE IT!**

 **Guest Reviews:**

 **Wow: Your reviews always make me so happy! Ok, I'll write the spin off as soon as this story is finished! Hahaha I did enjoy writing that chapter, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Wow I hadn't even thought of Ace's reaction to meeting Law. But I like that idea though, Gives me a plan.  
I have an idea of what I'm going to do with Whitebeard now, but I'll have to watch the old episodes to make sure it'll work. Thank you for the review!**

 **Keen yeah: Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed.**

 **Rest of replies Pm'd**

 **Thanks!**

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 **UmbraAurumDragon Out!**


	7. Chapter 7- Preparation

**(A/N) ANOTHER CHAPTER!**

 **I hope you enjoy!**

 **Thanks for the Reviews, Favourites and Follows!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece, Not Oda.**

* * *

 **Candle Heart**

 **Chapter 7- Preparation**

The second Yume nodded the man picked her up and flung her over his shoulder; he jumped onto the giant bird and flew off. Yume screamed, this was not exactly her idea of a great afternoon. Once the bird finally leveled out, the man placed her down in front of him. He put one strong arm around her waist to hold her secure; the other was gripping the bird's feathers. Yume looked down, the city was getting smaller and smaller, she could see the golden shining half built roofs and the construction equipment, but very soon they were nothing more than a blur. She felt the birds strong muscles working all in perfect unison beneath her, the black feathers were so soft and warm. She looked up at the man, he was smiling. When he noticed her gaze he looked down at her and said. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy by the way."

"Nice to meet you." She said in a whimper.

"I have a favour to ask of you." The man said.

"Yes!" She squeaked.

"You ate the Illusion Illusion Fruit didn't you?"

Her jaw dropped, she had never told anyone, she hadn't even used it for years. She nodded her head.

"Good, Shanks was right, can you use it to help me?"

"I… I… I can't." She stammered.

"Ehhhh why?"

"Last time I used it, the guards saw, my mother said it was her, and they killed her." She patted Grumpy in her lap, eyes downcast.

"Oh, then I'll just have to help you get it back." He said with a smile.

"It, it doesn't work that way Luffy…"

"YES IT DOES!"

"No, it doesn't." She cried. "Please don't take me back." She said clenching her fists.

"Ehhhh, why the hell would I take you back there?"

"I can't help you."

"I'll help you help me."

"What."

"Just say you'll try, please?" He said.

"If you don't take me back, I'll try my hardest." Yume promised.

"Yosh! Now we're getting somewhere!"

What a strange man, Yume thought to herself, she had never met anyone like him.

* * *

The young girl had fallen asleep in Luffy's lap. He studied her, she didn't look strong, he hoped that she would be able to help him save Ace; he didn't know what else he could do. She was so small, Luffy estimated she was around eleven, but she looked younger. She was thin and malnourished, with long dirty hair; she had what appeared to be a disgusting looking pillow case for clothes. Her eyes though, set her apart from everyone else, they were a bright blue, and the right one had a little section of a thick brown colour.-She had mystery eyes- She was covered in bruises and had a thin long scar along her neck parallel to her cheek. What annoyed Luffy most though was the slave mark prominent on her left shoulder.

Luffy hated slavery, he wanted it to be gone, as soon as he got Ace back he would go to Sabo and help him to stop this insanity. Normally he wouldn't intervene too much, but with the information he had gathered with the One Piece, he knew he had to.

They were headed towards marine headquarters where Ace had died. Once Luffy was sure she would be able to do what she needed, he would take her straight there and act out his plan.

But first there was the complication that she hadn't used her devil fruit in so long. She was out of practice. Luffy looked down at her, why did this have to be so much trouble.

* * *

They soon came to an island with a forest covering most of its expanse. There was a small village on one of the outer edges, but apart from that it appeared uninhabited. The bird landed without a problem, Luffy found this suspicious.

Luffy held the young girl and her cat in his arms, and placed them gently on some soft moss. "SAKATORI! Look after her; I'm going to get dinner." The bird gave him a bored annoyed look before Luffy ran off.

When he returned the little girl was awake and she was PATTING SAKATORI!

"Hey! Sakatori! Why do you let her pat you but not me!?" The bird glanced over at him and screeched, before turning back and snuggling up to the little girl with a trill. The girl winced at his sharp words and hid behind the bird.

"Bird doesn't like me any more." Luffy grumbled whilst making a fire and setting the large dear he had caught on top of it with a stick.

"Mystery eyes girl! Go clean up. You're all yucky; you'll make the food dirty."

"Mystery eyes girl?" She asked tilting her head.

"Yosh!" Luffy realised if she washed up she couldn't wear that pillow case again. He took off his cloak and shirt; he chucked the red shirt and his yellow sash to her before returning his cloak to his shoulders.

"There's a river, over there, wash and get dressed." She quickly grabbed the clothes and ran off, her cat following close behind. The bird gave him a look as if to say 'be nicer' and lowered itself into a roosting position.

The girl returned, she was now wearing Luffy's button up red shirt like a dress, it was tied at her waist with the yellow sash. Her Chocolate hair was now wet and dripping behind her, her pale face was now also visible without all the dirt. Luffy beckoned her over and held out a relatively large chunk of meat. Luffy and the bird had already helped themselves. Yume glanced at the meat, her mouth watering.

"Is all that for me?" She asked. Luffy was confused.

"Ehhhh, Yes?" He said tilting his head to the side. Yume grabbed the meat and took a chunk and fed it to the cat, before sitting down next to Luffy and taking a chunk for herself. She started crying.

"It's so good, thank you." She sobbed, Luffy sighed.

"Don't be a cry baby! This food is nowhere near as good as Sanji's, and you shouldn't even cry over that." She rubbed her nose.

"Who is Sanji?"

"Shishishishi, he's the chef on my crew, he's one of my nakama."

"Na-ka-ma?" She pronounced slowly

"Yosh! We're a pirate crew." Yume almost dropped her food. She scrabbled away terror in her eyes.

"You're… you're a pirate?"

"Ehhhh, what's wrong?"

"Pirates are big monsters with sharp teeth and horns." Luffy felt his teeth with one hand, and touched the top of his head with the other.

"I don't feel any horns."

Yume slowly walked towards him and looked inside his mouth and touched his hair.

"Are you sure you're a pirate?" She asked.

"Shishishishi, of course, I'm king of the pirates."

"What, but he died didn't he?

"No not him! I'm the new King of the Pirates." Yume tilted her head confused.

"Shishishishi I'm from the future." Yume looked at him sceptically.

"I came back here to find you, so you could help me save my brother. He died a while ago, but I want to save him."

"Why do you need me, if you're a pirate you must be strong."

"I am strong! I just need your illusion to make it look like he died." Yume gasped.

"I can't do that!"

"I'll help you practice!" Luffy said, Yume pouted not sure. "You promised you'd try." Luffy reminded her.

"Ok, I'll try."

* * *

During the night, Yume woke up due to her nightmares and the cold, the bird had flown off somewhere and Grumpy was out hunting. She shivered, holding her knees close to her chest. The fire had long since died, and there was a thin mist beginning to form.

She stood up and walked over to Luffy, who was lying flat on his back his arms laid out around him. She came and lay next to him, curling between his laid out arm and his body, she sighed, he was warm, she looked at his chest, there was a huge X shaped scar in its center. She traced along it with her finger, wondering how he got it. She turned over and fell asleep.

* * *

"YUME!" Luffy woke up the little girl with a huge smile. "Get up, it's time to practice!" The girl sat up rubbing sleep out of her eyes. She had come and lay down next to Luffy during the middle of the night. But Luffy didn't care. In fact she was actually quite warm.

He picked her up and sat her on his shoulder, she squeaked.

"Luffy, put me down please?"

"Shishishishi nope." He started to walk, leaving their mini campsite; he headed towards a large clearing. Luffy finally put her down and faced her.

"Show me what you got Yume!" He yelled out. She whimpered.

"I don't have anything."

"Sure you do, what did you used to use your abilities for?"

"Well, I used to play hide and seek with them, I would use them to hide myself."

"COOL! Try it!"

Yume gulped, she crossed her arms and gripped her sides. She looked to be concentrating, her eyebrows were close together. Then suddenly, she disappeared, Luffy gasped his eyes widening. No way! It was even cooler then he thought it would be. He walked over to where she had been standing and reached an arm out. Yume gasped and suddenly came into view.

"Yume that was awesome!"

"Thanks." She said, huffing, she looked a bit worn out. "I'm out of practice; I used to be able to make an illusion for fifteen minutes."

"Hmmm, we'll practice and get it to twenty." Luffy said with a smile.

"There's another weakness to my ability," She said looking up at Luffy. "If I move, make a noise or if someone touches me, the illusion stops."

"That shouldn't be a problem" Luffy smiled.

* * *

Two days passed on the island, Yume's abilities had gotten progressively better and better, her illusions more realistic, they were even making sounds now and they were lasting much longer. What made Yume happiest though was spending time with Luffy; he somehow always managed to bring a smile to her face, even after having nightmares from her past.

"Hey Yume, want to have some fun?"

"What do you mean Luffy?"

"Want to rile up the inhabitants of this island a bit?" Yume gasped.

"Of course not, that would be mean!"

"Shishishishi, we won't hurt them, we'll just give them a surprise; maybe a rhino or a lion, can you do a dragon?"

"LUFFY!"

He picked her up and placed her on his shoulder and walked towards the village, "Come on it'll be fun!"

"We shouldn't!"

"What do you mean we shouldn't? We can do anything we want, we're pirates."

"We're?" She echoed.

"Yeah, aren't you going to join my crew?"

"You mean, stay with you? Forever?"

"Yosh!" Yume started to cry.

"That sounds great Luffy." She said with a sniff.

"Ehhhh, are you crying again? Cry baby!" Yume laughed, she had been so worried he would just drop her off somewhere when she was finished helping him. It was reassuring to know they wouldn't have to part ways.

They eventually came upon the village; they sneakily went through it, Yume noticed something strange though, all the people were wearing military uniforms. Fear rose up inside her. "Time for some fun." Luffy said putting Yume down and rubbing his hands together. "Ready Yume?" She sighed.

"These are all marines."

"I know." Luffy chuckled. "That's the point."

Yume was hesitant, but she trusted Luffy to keep her safe. She crossed her arms and gripped her sides again. A huge black panther then appeared on top of one of the houses, its growl was low and terrifying. Luffy's jaw dropped. "Awesome!" he whispered his eyes wide.

It didn't take long for the marines to notice the creature. A man saw it first and squealed at an enormously high pitch, other screams then followed, people were running and screaming all over the place. Some men went to get weapons, but nothing they did to the panther worked. Luffy was on the ground now cacking himself laughing as people fell over themselves. One man wet himself in fear, another chucked a bucket in the air which promptly hit him on the head, this only made Luffy laugh more. Yume had to admit, the confused expressions were kind of funny, it was like the pranks some of the younger boys used to play on each other, back when she was a slave.

She let the image of the panther drop; the marines stopped running and looked around, confused.

"Ok let's head back" Luffy said tears of laughter in his eyes. "I reckon we should go practice the actually thing now." He said.

* * *

They went back to the training clearing, once they were there Luffy pulled out a newspaper from inside his jacket. He showed her the front page.

"I need you to make this." He said pointing to a picture of a man being punched though the chest by another.

"Ok." She replied, she concentrated hard.

Luffy said that it didn't look quite right the first few times she tried it. She studied the picture for a long time. Eventually she got it to look exactly like the image.

"Good job! We can leave tomorrow, TIME TO GO SAVE ACE!"

Yume didn't feel that confident in her abilities, but she'd do anything to thank her saviour.

* * *

Yume was snuggled up close to Luffy that night; his arms were around her holding her tight. She felt so safe. She realised she needed to go to relieve herself so she got up, careful not to wake Luffy and walked into the forest. It was dark and scary, she wished she'd waken up Luffy now; it was almost as dark as the rooms she used to sleep in. She feared one of the guards would come around the corner at any minute and beat her. The thin mist was returning she quickly did what she needed and headed back towards the camp.

That's when she heard a sharp screech unlike anything she had ever heard before, it sounded like a million people scratching a board with long fingernails. It sent chills up her spine. She began to run, she was crying again, sobbing, the noise was getting closer, now she could hear the sound of wings beating. She came to where she thought the encampment should be. It wasn't there. She had gotten lost. She kept running, she didn't want to turn around, she could smell the creatures now, they smelt of rotting flesh. She took a quick glance, in the gloom behind her she saw a swarm of flying creatures, they had long thick bodies, sharp teeth, and leathering wings. They looked to be a cross between a cat and a bat. She whimpered; there were so many. She kept running into the night, all she could hear were her footsteps and the creatures. She tried to bring up images with her ability, but the creatures didn't seem to see them or care. She was terrified now, some of them had started to bite her, blood was dripping down her legs and arms.

"LUFFY!" She screamed, running as fast as she could. She was beginning to get tired, her sides ached and she was getting out of breath her vision was going weird to.

She tripped, and landed on her face, she turned quickly, to see the huge hoard that were about to take her life. She screamed, holding her arms in front of her face and squeezing her eyes shut, when she felt an explosion of energy.

All the nearby creatures fell to the ground, thud thud thud thud. Yume moved her arms and opened her eyes. Standing above her was Luffy, his eyes looked intense. He knelt down and picked her up, and carried her away into the darkness.

* * *

 **(A/N) Did you guys like the chapter? I'm not sure about this one.**

 **I wrote the CORAZON REVIVAL FIC! And I loved writing it! I'm not sure if I should put it up now or wait till this is over though.**

 **Guest Reviews!**

 **Wow: Hahahaha I was laughing so much at your review my cat got grumpy at me and jumped off my lap.(His name is Stinkpot!) I can picture that too Hahahaha. I hope you still like Yume in this chapter, I'm trying hard to make her a likable character. She will have some interesting interactions with people later on. I hate that too! When a character has a backstory and it doesn't even affect the character, I'm trying really hard not to do that here, like she's still scared of people and has nightmares, but I'd like to develop her character more as the story progresses, you know, overcoming fear yada yada. She is around 11, hope this chapter clears this up. And no, more like a brother/ sister relationship! She's too young, well I guess 10 years ago Luffy would've been what 13? so technically he's only two years older then her, but she's coming with him so she's staying young! Asexual Hahaha That's great! Aww I didn't mean to make you cry! I'm sorry! It was really sad though, I got so mad. Sometimes on the way to uni I can see like 10 dead Wallabies dead on the road it makes me so mad! Anyway thanks for your review, you're the best!**

 **Guest: Will do! Glad you enjoyed.**

 **Uni fact: if you live in Australia or ever come here, Never EVER just take a Joey out of it's mums pouch, you have to cut off the nipple the joey is attached to with scissors or a scalpel and let the Joey spit it out or it's soft pallet will break and it's chances of surviving decrease.**

 **Anyways, the rest of the reviews were replied via pm.**

 **Oh and I started a community called Revivals if anyone is interested.**

 **Thank You ALL!**

 **se la mat jalan, Vaarwel, Hyvästi, TATA!**

 **UmbraAurumDragon OUT!**


	8. Chapter 8- Shiroi hi-ge

**(A/N) Here is the next chapter! Hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece (Unfortunately). Not Oda.**

* * *

 **Candle Heart**

 **Chapter 8- Shiroi hi-ge**

Yume was awoken by the feeling of claws needling her stomach. She opened her eyes. Above her she saw Luffy, he had one arm cradling her neck on his lap, the other was holding onto Sakatori. The four of them were flying again. It appeared to be around the middle of the day, the sun was shining brightly in her eyes so at first she didn't notice, but Luffy had little scratches and bites on his arms. She looked down at her arms her own wounds had been bandaged, albeit poorly, but they did the job. "Thanks Luffy." She said looking up at him. He glanced down at her.

"Shishishishi, no problem Yume." She paused for a second looking down at the passing sea below them. The last thing she remembered was Luffy standing over her as those creatures attacked. Had that been a dream?

"What happened, and where are we going?" She asked.

"After you fell asleep, I carried you away and called Sakatori. He took forever but eventually came. Your fuzz ball was already on him when he arrived. Now we're headed towards Marineford, we'll head about four years in the future when we get close."

"Oh ok." She said snuggling into Luffy's lap.

"Hey, Luffy?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you really think I can do this, save your brother I mean? I'm not strong or brave, and if I mess up, I'll ruin everything."

"Ehhhh, if I didn't think you could do it I wouldn't bring you along. And you may be a cry baby, but you're not a coward." He replied.

"Will you still take me with you even if I fail?"

"Yosh!" He replied with a smile. Yume returned the smile, releasing some of the nervous tension she had been building up.

"You'll be fine." Luffy said ruffling her hair.

Yume turned over, maybe she would be.

* * *

They were about half way to marine ford, Yume had fallen asleep again. Luffy shook her awake.

"Want to see something cool?" He chuckled. She groggily nodded. Luffy took out his pocket watch and moved the dial forward four years. Luffy felt the familiar sensation of spinning and they found themselves flying through a late afternoon sun rather than an early morning. They still had about two weeks till the execution, plenty of time to find Shanks and get the last few things they needed.

Yume had fainted. Luffy chuckled at her small form; she would be out for a while.

"Bird! Take us to an island?" Luffy asked.

The bird trilled and tilted his nose down towards the nearest island. They landed in a wheat field near a village on the shore. Luffy got down and lay against Sakatori's feathers. Tomorrow they would get some food from the village and would go find Shanks. Luffy let his sleepiness overcome him and closed his eyes.

* * *

Luffy and Yume were walking along the docks, checking out all the stalls. Yume was hiding under his coat still timid from her time as a slave. They had eaten their food and we're quite content. The village smelt amazing and it was bright and colourful with cobbled roads and thatched roof houses. They were heading back towards the wheat field where they had left Sakatori when Luffy saw a few all too familiar ships docked at the end of the bay. "Hey Yume, I have something I need to do. Go ahead I'll catch up." Yume looked up at him with those unusual big eyes, confusion and a hint of fear in them. "Don't worry I won't run away, and you'll make it back just fine." Luffy stuck his tongue out. She nodded and ran on ahead. Luffy walked towards the ships cautiously; when he was close he sat cross legged on a nearby barrel. He watched the large crew go about their business. Loading supplies, talking and preparing the ships to set sail. Luffy knew they were headed to Sabaody, Luffy had heard that the ships had come out from under the water the day of the execution, this must have been their last or second last stop till then.

Luffy watched the crew; he had placed his straw hat behind his head under his cloak to avoid people recognizing him. These people were Ace's family; though he had met a few, he wanted to see what they were all like. They mostly laughed and joked but there was a serious undertone to it all. Luffy could tell, they were all worried about Ace.

He had been sitting there for ten minutes, when he heard a rhythmic thud, thud, thud walking up the dock. There was a man of giant proportions, whom Luffy had only met once. Old man, Luffy thought keeping his head lowered, Ace had loved him like a father, he had talked about him in Alabasta, and it was easy to see why Ace respected him so. Whitebeard's power rivaled Luffy's own, which was a rare occurrence. He recalled their first meeting how he had yelled at him. Luffy chuckled and lowered his head; it would be nice to chat to the old man again. However, apparently Whitebeard had beaten him to the thought. The old giant man stopped next to Luffy's barrel. "Who are you brat?" he asked in a booming voice. The rest of Whitebeard's crew stopped what they were doing and looked over.

"Shishishishi, no one, I just wanted to see the famous Whitebeard." He replied.

"Go away kid." Said one of the pirates.

"No, I'll speak with him." Said the old man, the crew all looked up to their captain in confusion. Whitebeard walked up onto his ship and Luffy followed, the crews eyes following them in bafflement.

Once inside, Whitebeard sat down, he shooed off some nurses and looked at Luffy. "Your Haki is powerful you cheeky brat. I haven't seen you before."

"We'll meet properly later." Luffy chuckled.

"Well, why are you here? What do you want to know?"

"Tell me everything you know about Ace?"

"Firefist huh? Why do you want to know?"

"We're friends." Luffy replied. Whitebeard looked him over suspiciously. Luffy wondered if he knew. He seemed to of recognized Luffy at their first meeting, but that was a long time ago. Whitebeard sighed and began explaining everything he had come to know about Ace, from how they met, to how Ace had become their second division commander, to their final parting. Luffy for once listened intently, not only was he learning more about Ace but he was also learning about his life here. Luffy truly began to understand why he had joined this crew.

In return for his stories Luffy told of some of his own experiences with Ace, the man laughed at these. Luffy told him about Sabo and Dadan and how they used to fight together, it didn't take long for Whitebeard to realize who Luffy was.

"So you're his brother hey? You look different to your wanted poster, and you look older than Ace, even though he referred to you as kid brother." Luffy chuckled.

"There's a secret behind that."

"Gu ra ra ra ra, is there just, you didn't happen to find old Rogers pocket watch did you?" Luffy's jaw dropped in surprise.

"WHOA! How did you know!?"

"There are many secrets in this sea, so I assume you're back here to save your brother?" Luffy lowered his eyes.

"I won't fail again." Edward Newgate frowned.

"Brat, send me a signal if you succeed, I want to make sure my son lives."

"I'll make sure of it." Luffy said clenching his hands. Whitebeard nodded relaxing a little.

"Ok off you go brat, I assume I'll see you soon."

"Yosh! See ya old man," Luffy headed towards the door. "Oh and old man?"

"What is it?" He huffed.

"Thanks for looking after my big brother." With that Luffy ran off, not seeing the smirk lighting up the old man's face.

"That brat." He chuckled.

* * *

Luffy headed back to Yume, a huge smile on his face, seeing the old man has been a bonus to his time adventure. He ran through the tall wheat, it was the type of long wheat used to build the thatch houses. He ran through the stalks till he got to Yume.

"Yume!" He shouted. "Let's go!" He grabbed her and she squeaked in surprise. He jumped up onto Sakatori, who seemed to be used to his antics by now. Yume's cat jumped up too just moments before the bird launched into the air. "Where are we going now Luffy?" Yume asked.

"We're going to see Shanks." Luffy replied with a chuckle.

Yume tilted her head but shrugged, obviously just accepting it.

The bird flew on; its massive wings beating the air caused them to go speeds unimaginable on land. Two days past on their journey, they stayed relatively close to the sea, trying to spot the location Shanks had told Luffy he'd be.

They finally saw the ship with the Dragon figure head, Sakatori circled around it from above getting slowly lower and lower.

The bird landed on the ship. Luffy jumped off to greet Shanks.

"SHANKS!" He called.

"Luffy, long time no see!"

"Have any food? I'm starving!"

"Dahahahaha, yes of course we'll throw a party! But first I assume this is Yume." He said looking at the little girl behind Luffy. To say Yume looked terrified would be an understatement; she was white as a sheet and was gripping on to Luffy's cloak for dear life.

"Luffy," She whispered. "When you said we were meeting Shanks I didn't realise you meant THE RED HAIRED SHANKS!" She emphasized the last few words. Luffy laughed.

"Who else would I mean, Shishishishi." Shanks chuckled as well.

"It's nice to meet you Yume." She merely nodded in reply, hiding further behind Luffy."

"Hey Shanks, did you find the other girl?"

"Sure did, she's in the hold not very impressed to being forced to work." Shanks chuckled.

"Yay!" Luffy yelled, everything was almost all in place; there was only one more thing he needed before he could save Ace, but he couldn't get that till the day of the execution.

"So we headed towards Marineford?" Luffy asked.

"Yes we should get there just after the battle starts." Shanks answered.

"I'll have to leave to get one last thing on the way." Luffy told him.

"Ok Luffy, till then let's celebrate!"

"Yosh!" Luffy replied.

* * *

During the night Yume began to warm up to Shanks and his crew, she slowly got more confident around them, eventually she was even able to leave Luffy's side. She was giggling at a joke Usopp's father told, when a tipsy Shanks came up behind Luffy and put an arm around him.

"Hey, Luffy," he hiccuped. "Who was you and Ace's pops anyways, you too look so different."

"Oh, we're not related by blood, my dad is Monkey D. Dragon and Ace's was Gol D. Rodger, don't tell anyone though it's a secret, though I guess everyone finds out anyway." He chuckled.

Shanks's eyes widened, his jaw went slack. "NO WAY! Ace is that old cod's son, Dahahahaha, wow I never knew."

"Yep! He hates talking about it though, he'd hit me if he knew I told you. Shishishishi."

"Well, that just gives us more reason to save him doesn't it. Can't let my old captains son, and the new pirate kings brother die now can we." He smirked. "Although, Rodger probably would've wanted the boy to get out on his own."

"Yosh, Ace would hate to be rescued the way we're doing it." Luffy chuckled.

"I'm sure he'll get over it!"

"I hope he will." Luffy said staring towards the horizon.

* * *

 **(A/N) Hope you enjoyed!**

 **Thanks to all the people who favourited, followed and reviewed.**

 **ACE IS IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!**

 **AND TWO CHAPTERS OF BEAT IN SILENCE ARE OUT! Go check it out! (It's a Corazon Revival)**

 **Guest Reviewers:**

 **Wow: Hope you still like Yume in this chapter! Yes time travel is confusing. Luffy found Yume 10 years in his past so when he would have been 13. If that makes sense, which is why they go four years into the future (Luffy 17) to get to the time where Ace died. Hahaha Yes poor bird. I think by this chapter he's just accepted it though.  
Thanks for your review, you're awesome! :D**

 **Rest of reviews replied via PM**

 **Thank you all!**

 **TATA!**

 **UmbraAurumDragon OUT!**


	9. Chapter 9- Ace's Revival and Hope

**(A/N) ANOTHER CHAPTER WOOOHOOO, I hope you enjoy, it's a long one.**

 **FOR THE DUBB WATCHERS (or people who just haven't seen the Fishman island/ Dressrosa ark) IGNORE IF YOU ARE A REGULAR READER**

* * *

 **Summary: So far future Pirate King Luffy went and saw shanks then showed him a watch he found with the One Piece. The pocket watch, when Luffy fiddled with it took him back in time to when he and Ace were kids. Realising the watch could take him back in time, Luffy organised with Shanks to try to save Ace. He talked to his time Law (~4 years forward, post time skip) and convinced him to help Ace when he brought him to him. He also found a young girl called Yume with the Illusion Illusion Fruit (She was a slave) and saved her. It is also alluded to earlier that there are a few other things Luffy will need to save Ace. Luffy's crew is out doing a job for him and know nothing of what is going on. Oh and Luffy met Whitebeard earlier (in Ace dying time) and Whitebeard asked him to let him know if he managed to save Ace. Luffy and Yume are currently on Shanks's ship heading to save Ace in this chapter. (If you have any questions just ask in the review section.) (Small spoiler in (A/N) at very bottom just a warning.) But I don't think there are any other spoilers in this chapter.**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: Nope- don't own One Piece, Nope- Not Oda.**

* * *

 **Candle Heart**

 **Chapter 9- Hope**

Marineford was getting closer and closer, the great ship with the dragon figure head sailed at a fast pace towards the military base. "Luffy!" Shanks called. "It's time to go!"

"Yosh!" Luffy replied, he was so excited, they were so close, so close to Ace, and everything was in place to save him. Luffy had already left and returned with the last thing he needed for the plan, it was now downstairs with the girl Shanks had found.

Yume, her cat, Shanks, Yasopp, Luffy and his package all hopped onto the back of Sakatori. Yume would hide their presence until they arrived, then they would find a place to hide so Yume could recover until just the right moment.

They flew on towards Marine ford, Yume was sitting by herself, and avoiding any type of human touch or interference, her face was scrunched up in concentration. Within an hour they had landed and had found a safe place to hide.

Luffy looked up towards the execution platform, there was Ace, sitting exactly how Luffy had remembered, he was bruised and battered. The expression on his face was worn and tired.

"Ace…." Luffy said, a hint of desperation could be heard in the words. Yume looked at Luffy, determination now lighting her face.

"You'll save him this time." She said firmly. Luffy looked down at her and smiled.

"Yosh!"

The distraction from Whitebeard Pirate Ships arising from the water made it easier for them to hide. The six figures watched as the huge ships arose from the sea.

"It's the Moby Dick!" One man yelled.

Three more ships appeared, all fourteen commanders were on board.

The thuds of heavy footsteps and the clank of a weapon hitting the ground in time with the steps could be heard walking up the Moby Dick's stairs.

"Gu ra ra ra ra ra ra. How many decades since we last met, Sengoku?" The old giant man said.

"Whitebeard." The Navy Fleet Admiral replied.

"I take it my beloved son….. Is still doing well?"

The marines all made varying noises of fear and confusion.

"How could you get in here so easily….?!" Sengoku asked.

"Gu ra ra ra ra ra ra. Wait just a little longer, Ace." Whitebeard said ignoring his question and looking up at Ace. Ace hearing this grimaced.

"Old man!" He yelled. Whitebeard spread his arms and brought them in, his cloak flapped in the wind. He very suddenly stretched his arms out to his sides, his hands clenched in tight fists, the air cracked around him, making a sound resembling shattering glass. The ground began to shake and the sea rose into the air. The marines cried out in fear. It suddenly settled down, Ace began speaking to Whitebeard.

Luffy listened intently to his words, back then he had not been at Marineford yet and thus had never heard this. As he listened he saw more of Ace's relationship with his crew, and he wished he could save all of them.

"This only happened because I was so stubborn!" Ace yelled out.

"No," Whitebeard replied. "I was the one who told you to go…. My son."

"You're lying! Don't be ridiculous! You tried to stop me back then, but I…."

"I told you to go! I told him to go. Isn't that right, Marco?" Whitebeard asked.

Yeah, I heard it too. We sent you into a lot of trouble, huh, Ace?" Marco replied. "This entire ocean should know, what happens when someone…. Harms one of our crewmates."

"Anyone who hurts you won't be allowed to live, Ace!" One of the crew yelled out.

"Hang on! We're coming for you, right now!" Another called.

They all yelled in agreement and whitebeard smirked, looking confident.

"Prepare yourselves, Navy HQ!" Another yelled out.

The Marine Admirals and Warlords started prepping themselves for the battle.

The water began to recede and the levels dropped, and the Whitebeard Pirates became quiet.

The water began to rise again rapidly.

A tsunami began to form and batter the island.

The water rose up on either side of the building.

Kuzan jumped up and froze the oppressing water solid.

He then froze the water surrounding the ships in the bay.

The cannons then began to fire.

The war had begun.

The Whitebeard pirates jumped down and began to run towards Ace. The Marines met them in battle.

Vice Admirals, Smoker, Tashigi, Giants and all the rest of the marines were there. The ice was chaos.

Luffy looked at Ace, his expression was pained and worried.

The Warlords entered the fray, joining in the battle causing destruction.

Then the Admirals began to join in as well.

Luffy watched as Marco the Phoenix joined, he had a sudden desire to ride Ace's crew mate, or eat him. Mmmm chicken, he thought to himself, getting slightly distracted.

More of the Whitebeard pirates joined in with Marco, the Division Commanders causing mayhem.

Giant ice was flying everywhere.

Then Luffy saw the man he hated most, Akainu. He was still alive in Luffy's time, but the years between when Ace died and Luffy's present hadn't made Luffy forgive the Admiral, now Fleet Admiral. He vaporized the ice, coming towards him, and sent an attack towards Whitebeard. It did nothing.

Little Oars Junior walked onto the battlefield, obliterating everything in his path.

He got injured by the Warlords and fell, his hat off to his side.

He reached out towards Ace, calling his name.

"Just a little further Ace…" He said

Luffy watched Ace, he looked like he was in so much pain, calling out to Oars.

No one hurt Ace's friends, Luffy thought to himself, especially if it caused Ace this much pain. Luffy was glad he had kicked both the stupid shadow guy and Mingo's but earlier.

Ace began to cry.

Luffy began shaking, he had to be patient, he had to wait, but Ace wasn't making it easy.

The battle continued.

Luffy then noticed Garp walking up onto the platform; he went and sat next to Ace. Excluding Luffy's time travel venture to when he was a child, he hadn't really seen his gramps in so long. He heard him, even from a distance say to Ace.

"I have no sympathy for criminals, but for my family, I do."

"What….. should I do?" he cried. Luffy was shocked; he had never seen his gramps cry.

"Damn you Ace! Why couldn't you just live as I told you?!" Ace bit his lip watching their Grandfather.

"Gramps." He said.

That's when Luffy heard screaming from above. He smiled, now it was time for another entrance, this one from his younger self.

Ace looked up, surprise written all over his face.

"ACE!" His young self called down from above.

The ship and the people that had been on it fell from the sky and into the water.

He saw his young self climb up the fallen ship; he saw his own smile at seeing Ace alive. He remembered the joy he felt back then at not being too late.

"ACE!" His young self called again.

"LUFFY!" Ace returned his call. Hearing that again broke Luffy's heart in two and also made him feel happy at the same time. It had been so long since he heard that voice call his name.

"ACE!" His young self called yet again, laughing. "I finally found you."

"We're all here to save you!"

"Luffy!" Called Garp.

Luffy was remembering all the events as they happened now, they were brought to the forefront of his mind, Croco attacking Whitebeard, his chat with Whitebeard shortly after that.

His young self had then run off to get to Ace, past the light guy, the marines and the shadow guy. Then Ace called out.

"Keep away, Luffy!"

His younger self looked towards Ace.

"You ought to know already! You and I are both pirates! You should be out sailing however you want! Me, I have my own adventures! Me, I have my own friends! You have no right to interfere with that! A weakling like you coming to rescue me…. Do you think I'm going to let that happen?! That would be too humiliating. Go back, Luffy! Why did you come?!"

"I'm your brother!" His young self called back

They continued to argue as young Luffy ran towards Ace, fighting off giants and Marines as he went.

A large platoon of Pacifistas, being commanded by Sentomaru, attacked the Whitebeard Pirates from behind.

The marines retreated from the bay hoping to block off the pirates in there.

The walls rose.

Not long after Jimbei launched Luffy over the wall.

Inazuma made a bridge to the execution platform, young Luffy ran up it, only to be intercepted by Garp.

Luffy continued to watch the scenes unfold, Garp got knocked off the bridge by his young self and he finally reached Ace.

The platform collapsed but Ace managed to get free from the wax key.

All the pirates started to retreat, young Luffy and Ace included.

Luffy looked over to Yume. "Yume, Yasopp, are you ready? It's almost time." They both nodded in reply watching Ace's final moments.

Whitebeard told his crew to stay behind and Luffy watched Ace's painful final goodbye to his chosen father.

Akainu mocked Whitebeard and Ace attacked in retaliation.

"Now Yume!" Luffy whispers desperately to her.

Yume altered the image of young Luffy; making his image stop running earlier then he actually did to make it appear that young Luffy was closer than he actually was to the Admiral.

Akainu and Ace argued as they battled, they paused when Ace fell to the ground.

"I don't care if the others get away as long as I get you two! Watch what I do." He looked over to young Luffy who was distracted by Ace's vivre card.

Luffy watched Ace as he realised what Akainu was going to do. However, Yume had projected her image into everyone's mind except Ace's, so when he went to protect Luffy, he moved to where the young Luffy was actually hidden under the illusion. But Ace saw Akainu come closer towards Luffy, thus making Ace see him attack him normally, rather than stopping early.

So Akainu's punch never hit Ace.

She then changed the image, making the picture she had seen on the front of the newspaper appear in front of everyone, including Ace, she made him believe that he had been punched. She even put the detail of the falling beads, the expression on Ace's face, as he saw the fist go through his chest. She allowed the words Luffy said and the sound of the lava to come through the image. She let the action of Akainu taking out his fist from Ace's back to show through the image as well, now she just had to hold the image of the damage on Ace's chest.

Yume had veins popping out on her forehead; she was concentrating so hard to keep such a complicated image going for so long and to so many people. She had to put so much detail in, change the sounds the images. Her exhaustion was obvious.

This part was so crucial, Akainu had to actually believe he had punched Ace, though he could not feel it, Shanks believed that seeing the image would cause a phantom feeling in both Ace and Akainu.

The plan was working Luffy was getting excited.

The Whitebeard pirates ran forwards towards Ace, they fired on Akainu to no avail.

Akainu went to attack Ace again, this time Luffy knew Jimbei would stop him.

Two of the Whitebeard Pirates, Marco and Vista, attacked Akainu. "Yasopp!" Shanks said watching along with Luffy. Yasopp lifted up a large gun, whilst everyone was looking at Marco, Vista and Akainu. Yasopp shot a tiny, almost invisible, dart at Ace, one that would cause him pain unfortunately, but would also make him unconscious and lower his heart beat and breathing pattern to almost nothing. The reason for this was to make Ace truly feel like he was dying. So he could say his final words to Luffy the same way he had in Luffy's memory, to avoid changing the past.

"Luffy, Yasopp and I must leave now." Shanks said.

Luffy nodded and Shanks and Yasopp flew off on Sakatori, no one saw them as they were all focused on the events taking place on the ground. Luffy turned his concentration back on his younger self and his brother.

"Ace… Hey, are you all right? Hey. Ace, you need to get treated right away!" Luffy's younger self said.

"I'm sorry, Luffy…"

"Huh?"

Even though Luffy knew it wasn't real the illusion still caused him so much pain. Only a little while, he thought to himself, and then he could go get him. Sakatori came down from the sky, returning from taking Shanks and Yasopp back to their ship.

"In order to save me, you pushed yourself that far but… I couldn't make it all the way. I'm sorry."

"Wh-What are you saying? Don't be ridiculous! Somebody, treat him! Please! Please help Ace." Young Luffy yelled desperately. "Hey somebody! Help Ace! Please!"

Some men ran forward to try to give him first aid. They could do nothing, Luffy remembered the feeling of helplessness he had, had back then.

Yume looked to be really struggling now, Luffy came and sat next to her, putting her cat on her lap, careful not to touch her himself. He talked to her trying to calm her down. She relaxed a bit, but was still very pale.

"It's no use. My organs have been burned. I can't hold out any longer. I can tell that my life is ending." Ace stated.

"That's not true!" Luffy begged Iva to help after saying that, but he could not help either.

"You promised me! You said… that you'd never die…. No matter what! Ace! You said… no matter what!"

"I wouldn't even have a will to live…. If it weren't for Sabo and a high maintenance brother like you. Oh yeah. If you see Dadan someday, say hello for me. When I face my own death, I even miss a woman like her."

"Like I said, don't say that you're going to die!"

"There is one thing that makes me want to stay. That is my desire to see you fulfil your dream. But I am sure that you can do it! Because you're my brother! Like we promised that day, I have no regrets…. In my life."

"That's a lie! Don't tell a lie!"

"I'm not lying. Something tells me that what I truly wanted was not fame.

Did I deserve to be born?

What I wanted was the answer for that question.

I can't raise my voice to let everybody hear me anymore. Could you tell them…. What I'm about to say now?

Pops, everyone, and you Luffy. Thank you…. For loving someone like me who is good for nothing… and who has such bad blood in his veins... up to today." Ace cried as he said his final words. "Thank you!" He smiled as his body became limp and he fell to the ground.

Yume made it appear as if Ace's vivre card burnt up.

"Ace…" Young Luffy said looking down at Ace's still body, blood on his hands. He cried and went into shock.

Whitebeard and his crew shed tears as they could do nothing, but watch helplessly as their brother, their son died.

Garp cried along with Luffy, Jimbei and the pirates.

They did not have time to mourn as Akainu attacked again. Marco protected Luffy as Jimbei took him away.

This is where Luffy stopped remembering events.

Whitebeard suddenly attacked Akainu, he was pissed. Pirates and Marines alike were running away from their battle. But the distraction gave Luffy the opportunity he had been waiting for. No one had their eyes on Ace; they were all on Whitebeard and Akainu.

"Gear second!" He said putting his fist on the ground. His skin turned pink and steam was rolling off his body. He unravelled the package next to him. In it was a perfect wax statue of Ace, exactly how he appeared now, hole through the chest, smile and all. It was wearing Ace's exact clothes, and had a wig on its head. It was painted to perfection, each detail in Ace's perfect likeness. Luffy picked it up, he infused his legs with Haki. He would have to move at a speed where no one could see him. He prepped himself. He had one chance, if anyone saw him it would mess up the whole plan.

He ran out into the open, the force on his body was extreme, he was unsure if he had ever moved so fast. In a second he managed to swap Ace's real body with the fake wax sculpture. He ran back to his hiding spot with Ace. He grabbed a vial Yasopp had given him and poured into Ace's mouth, this would make Ace's heart beat return to normal, but not wake him up for quite a few hours.

Yume fell to the ground finally able to release her illusion, causing the hole in Ace's chest to disappear. She was sweating and her face was very pale; she vomited onto the ground and fainted. She had pushed herself too hard, but she had succeeded, Ace was alive, and Luffy could never thank her enough.

There was still one last thing Luffy had to do before they left though.

Whitebeard stood proud and tall, cloak blowing in the breeze, massive holes in his chest along with hundreds of other wounds. He was on the other side of a crevice to his crew.

The Whitebeard Pirates began to retreat, mostly unwillingly. Whitebeard fighting the marines to cover them. Luffy took off Ace's necklace and grabbed a single bead, he grabbed a tiny rock from the ground and carved 'safe' into it in tiny lettering. He waited, he knew Blackbeard would come Jimbei had told him he did. When the pirate became visible on the scaffold Luffy chucked the little red bead towards Whitebeard. It landed right in front of the giant old man. He looked down whilst everyone was distracted by Blackbeard's appearance and the old man smiled. He then clenched his fist and looked at Blackbeard. "You bastard." He said. Luffy realised he probably still wanted revenge for Ace's crew member that had died. Pity Blackbeard didn't die until after Luffy's fight with him only a short while before finding the One Piece; Luffy didn't think he could hate anyone more than Blackbeard, except maybe Akainu.

But nothing else that occurred here mattered now, he had been told of the events that had happened after he went into shock; Luffy had done all he had come here for. He had more important things to worry about now then the fight. When Shanks came back, he would ensure no one got too close to Ace's body. Thus it would be unknown to all that a wax figure would be buried in Ace's grave in his stead.

Luffy looked back at Whitebeard, maybe he would come back here with Ace to try save the old man in a similar way. Luffy liked Ace's pops, he respected him even. He turned towards the unconscious Yume and Ace, Sakatori and the little cat. He grabbed the three of them and jumped onto Sakatori, the bird flew off, in the direction of Sabaody, where in six years' time Luffy would meet up with Law.

Luffy recalled the events leading up to his arrival at Marine ford…

* * *

"Ok I'm off!" He yelled leaving Shank's ship on Sakatori. He headed towards the gates of justice, because slightly beyond them there was a ship with his young self on it and the wax guy, Mr Three.

As Luffy got close to the ship he made sure Sakatori flew close to the water, he made sure that no one was watching their approach and they landed on the back of the Navy Vessel, where no one was.

Luffy snuck towards the front of the ship, he grabbed Mr Three and pulled him back to the back of the ship.

"You! Do something for me!?" He said.

"Who the hell are you?" Asked Mr Three rudely.

"Doesn't matter. You will do this for me."

"You look like Straw Hat, don't tell me he has another older brother."

"Ehhhh Yosh! I'm Lucy! Luffy's older brother."

"Whatever," he replied. "What do you want?"

"Make me a sculpture of Ace! Exactly like this!" He said taking out the photo he had cut from the newspaper.

"Fine, if you go away." He said; bringing forth his wax and making a perfect replica.

"Thanks wax guy!" Luffy said grabbing the sculpture and jumping over the edge of the boat onto Sakatori.

He was stupid Luffy chuckled to himself.

He headed back towards Shanks's ship, now with another piece to the puzzle of saving Ace.

When he arrived, they took the sculpture downstairs to where Miss Goldenweek was waiting.

Shanks had found her on Alabasta and brought her with him, granted it wasn't willingly on her part. But they managed to convince her to paint the sculpture of Ace.

Now everything was in place, and it was almost time to leave.

* * *

Luffy urged Sakatori on; although Ace didn't have a hole in his chest he was still badly injured. Luffy needed to get back to his own time right away. Yume rolled over in his lap and woke up looking very groggy and worn out. "Did it work?" She asked.

"YOSH! You did great! I have my brother back." Luffy smiled brightly, looking back at Ace.

"That's great," she said returning Luffy's smile. "Should we head to your time then now Luffy?" Luffy nodded taking out his pocket watch, he moved the dial forward six years.

Nothing happened.

* * *

 **(A/N) Ahhhh finally done! That took forever; I went through like 30 episodes to get all that perfect.**

 **Do you understand the title now? Hehehehe**

 **I'm sorry the first half is so similar to what happened in the anime. Just trying to set the mood and stuff and make sense of it all.**

 **I was very vague in some areas just because it would take FOREVER to write everything out.**

 **I HOPE IT MAKES SENSE! I tried to explain it as best I could, if you don't understand the illusion bit, review and let me know, and I'll re-write it.**

 **Anyways I hope you enjoyed.**

* * *

 **Guest Reviews: (Rest via Pm)**

 **Wow: Thanks for the review I'm glad you enjoyed. I hope you enjoy this chapter too. Have you read Silence yet? You should check it out if you haven't. You sounded interested in a Corazon revival fic earlier.**

 **Oh and before I forget, do you guys have any really good Ace revival (or any revival fics) to recommend? Or just any SUPER good One Piece Fanfics? Thanks!**

 **Thank you all for the Follows, Favourites and Reviews. They give me motivation to keep going so keep please.**

 **If you enjoy this story you may enjoy my other one! Check it out!**

 **Thank you all!**

 **TATA!**

 **UmbraAurumDragon OUT!**


	10. Chapter 10- Reunion

**(A/N) Finally here it is, the amount of times I went yes finally finished, read through it, hated it and rewrote it is phenomenal.  
I'm still not happy with this chapter…  
But it will do for now...**

 **Soo…. I might change it later…. I'll let you know if I do. I just thought you guys have been waiting long enough for it.**

 **You should actually go youtube Ace's death scene and watch it again before you read this get the feelings all boiling up!**

 **Dubb watchers I don't think there is any spoilers in this chapter, there is a little about Haki at the start though.**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece, not Oda.**

 **So here it is! I hope you enjoy! Let me know if it's emotional enough.**

* * *

 **Candle Heart**

 **Chapter 10- Reunion**

"Ummm Luffy... Why isn't it working?" Yume asked from Luffy's lap. Luffy scratched his head. It had always worked before, why was it stopping now? He started shaking the watch violently.

"Stupid mystery watch." He said

"Don't break it!" Yume cried.

"It already is." Luffy mumbled.

Sakatori continued his flight regardless, he was moving at a really fast pace, they were getting closer to Sabaody. Ace groaned behind Luffy, some of his red blood was pouring out onto the birds black feathers. He needed a doctor soon.

"Maybe it's out of power?" Yume suggested.

"Power?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah, like how you get tired when you haven't eaten in a while."

"So it needs meat!?"

"Maybe something else..."

"Like what?" Luffy asked looking down at her.

"Well, the only time I've ever felt anything similar to the feeling when we go back in time, was when you saved me from those bat things and when your younger self made every one fall asleep back at Marineford.

"So it runs on haki?"

"Haki?"

"Yosh! Let me try something!" Luffy used reinforcement haki, he put it into his arm and down into his hand, changing it to a dark black greyish colour. The watch changed to the same colour. Luffy then tried conquerors haki, allowing the energy to leave him as he tried to direct it into the watch. The watch began to heat up.

"Shishishishi its working!" Luffy kept it up, pouring the haki into the watch.

That's when things went wrong.

The watch was absorbing too much power, and Luffy couldn't stop it. He started to lean forward. His vision becoming fuzzy.

"I don't feel good." He stated.

"Luffy!" Yume yelled grabbing onto him trying to wrestle the pocket watch out of his hands. Luffy's vision gradually darkened.

* * *

Yume managed to grab the object out of Luffy's clenched fist. But it was burning hot. She dropped it, and it fell down toward the cobalt blue ocean bellow.

"Sakatori!" She yelled. The bird tilted his beak, and did a steep nose dive straight after the watch. It was getting closer and closer to the ocean. If it fell in they would be stuck here forever. Yume held on to Luffy, Ace and Grumpy she tried to minimize their surface area so they would go faster. The pocket watch was still so far away. They would never reach it in time.

The watch was about to touch the water when a hand snaked out from behind her, it stretched down and grabbed the watch just in time.

"Stupid thing stole all my haki." Luffy said, retracting his arm as Sakatori pulled out of his dive and straightened out.

"Will it work now?" Yume asked.

"Let's see." Luffy opened it up and put the dial forward again. The air began to become thick with energy and the world began to spin.

"We're here!" Luffy yelled.

* * *

They flew around Sabaody, looking for the yellow submarine. It didn't take long for them to spot it. "Tra-Guy is here!"

"Tra-Guy?" Yume asked.

"Yeah he's this doctor, who uses a big sword and can switch people's bodies around. He's awesome!"

"Huh?"

"He's a pirate emperor, like Shanks." Yume's eyes widened.

"Why do you always have to be friends with scary people?"

Luffy ignored her question as they landed on the deck of the submarine. A man walked out onto the deck, who was all too familiar to Luffy. He was carrying his sword when he saw Luffy he dropped it, his pupils dilated when he saw Ace on the giant birds back.

"Straw...Hat...Ya..." Law said in a coarse whisper. He swallowed looking utterly flabbergasted.

"Tra-Guy, hurry up, Ace is hurting." Law looked over to Ace.

"Straw Hat-ya, help me get him inside."

"Yosh!"

* * *

That Law guy creeped Yume out, the whole time they had been on the ship she had been hiding behind Luffy too timid to go anywhere near the emperor or his crew. They weren't any where near as nice and friendly as Shanks's crew.

She was sitting beside Luffy on a bench; they were waiting for the creepy guy to finish healing Luffy's brother. Luffy didn't appear to enjoy waiting; he didn't move he just stared at the door waiting. It seemed unnatural for him not to move for so long, it worried Yume.

The creepy guy walked out, taking off a pair of gloves.

"He'll be ok Straw Hat-ya, he just needs rest now."

"Can I go in and see him?" Luffy asked him, instantly perkier.

"No, he needs to sleep and heal, wait till he's better."

"But Tra-Guy." Luffy whined.

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Can I have some meat while I wait then?"

"No."

"Can I..."

"No." Law said cutting him off. "Just sit there and don't move and don't touch or break anything."

"Stupid boring Tra-Guy, says no to everything." Luffy pouted.

Yume glared at the man, surely Luffy could do something. That's when he noticed her glare, he returned it tenfold. She yelped and crawled into Luffy's lap. She stuck her tongue out at him and continued to glare, now in the safety of Luffy's arms.

"Shishishishi." Luffy chuckled.

"Who's the brat?" Law asked looking at her.

"She's my new Nakama, she helped me save Ace."

"I don't see how this tiny imp could be of any use."

Yume bit her lip, getting really mad at the creepy man. She clenched her sides allowing a vision to consume him.

His eyes widened in shock, he walked around the deck staring at nothing. He began to back away from something looking really confused. He lifted his palm and said room. He seemed shocked when nothing happened. Luffy grabbed her shoulder.

"Hey Yume what are you showing him?"

She released the vision with a gasp; the creepy man looked around then stared over at Luffy.

"What the hell?" He asked. Luffy pointed at Yume. She giggled nervously, before giving Luffy a betrayed look.

"LITTLE BRAT!" Law yelled.

"Luffy...?" She said grabbing hold of his shirt.

"Shishishishi." He laughed ignoring her.

She jumped out of Luffy's lap and ran across the deck, she suddenly found her arms detached from her body, she screamed.

Luffy laughed, rolling on the deck cacking himself. "I can't believe you fell for that Law."

"She does create a powerful image." He said, glaring down at her.

"The Admirals fell for it too." Luffy chuckled.

"I can see her usefulness."

"Luffy help!" Yume squealed.

"Shishishishi, just reattach your arms, you'll be fine."

"I'll help!" said a big white polar bear walking out onto the deck; he began putting Yume back together. He didn't seem to know the difference between her right and left arm though.

"There you go, all better." He grabbed her and pulled her into a hug.

She crawled out of the embrace, and ran over to Luffy. She grumbled and sat in his lap burring her head into his shirt.

She would never do something like that again. Was she crazy? Aggravating an Emperor! And Luffy hadn't even helped.

"I'm going downstairs Straw Hat-ya, don't do anything crazy."

"Sure." He said with his familiar smile.

Yume huffed, she had stood up for Luffy and he did nothing.

* * *

Ace wondered where he was.

Was he dead?

He had felt himself die, but should there be pain when you were dead?

Ace's whole body ached, and his dreams were so vivid, he kept reliving over and over the events that had happened up until his death, his crew coming to save him, Oars, Pops and Luffy; especially Luffy. He had broken his promise and the expression on Luffy's face as Ace bled out into his arms had been excruciating, yet worth it, all the pain was worth it if Luffy was alive. But would he ever find out what happened? Would the rest of his eternity be the dark prison of his mind, with only the replaying memories to watch? Or would he leave soon, he might not mind that, if he got to be with the old man again, yet part of him wanted to stay, to see Luffy live out his dream. Was this indecision why he was in this limbo?

But all of a sudden it stopped he could hear voices around him, bright lights shining into his eyes. Then it was over and the darkness consumed him again.

The second time this happened he heard Luffy.

"It's been days Tra-Guy! Let me in to see him."

"No." Said a second voice before they began to become fuzzy and his exhaustion overcame him again.

The third time he opened his eyes fully. The room was dark. He felt something heavy on his legs; he looked down at them and saw the back of Luffy's head resting on them in the darkness. He smiled Luffy was ok, he had made it out. He was now snoring away. What a dumbass, he thought before falling asleep again, this time though, there were no dreams and the sleep felt lighter.

The final time he woke up, he sat up and looked around; he was alone in a dark room again. How long had it been since he last woke up, hours or days? He felt his chest; there was no scar, that was weird. Was he alive, a ghost or in some weird afterlife.

He stood up, noticing finally his hunger. He walked out of the room, everything was dark, and it appeared to be the middle of the night. He walked out on deck, there he saw a man sitting on the railing at the front of the ship. He had a dark cloak fluttering around him in the midnight sea breeze. He was lean and tall with broad shoulders. He wore no weapons and didn't appear to be a threat. Ace walked up to him, he was half way there and was about to demand to know what happened, when the man turned around.

"Luffy?" Ace asked flabbergasted.

* * *

Luffy had gotten in trouble he had snuck in to go see Ace, and Tra-Guy had yelled at him.

He was sitting on the railing, mainly because this stupid ship didn't have a figurehead. Yume had long since gone to bed, but he couldn't sleep, so he had come out on deck to look at the bright lights of Sabaody. He then heard someone walking up on deck, probably Tra-guy coming to yell at him again, he pouted. He was too lazy to use his haki, so he just turned around.

"Luffy?"

It was Ace, he was awake.

Luffy had seen him, sat with him and held him yet seeing him awake brought the whole thing into reality.

Ace was alive.

"Ace..." Luffy said quietly in shock; he jumped off the railing and took a few steps towards him. "YOU DUMBASS!" Luffy yelled clenching his fist and pulling it back to punch his brother. The punch got to within one inch of his face and stopped, the force from the punch caused Ace's hair to ruffle, his fist fell down and touched Ace's torso gently. Luffy leaned in and fell into his chest. Ace quickly managed to catch him and hold him in his arms. All of Luffy's emotions boiled up and exited through the tear ducts of his eyes.

"Ace-"He sobbed

"Ace-"He said his brother's name again and again into his chest, with each time he said it he pounded his chest gently. He then wrapped his arms around him tightly; he rested his head in the crook of Ace's neck and balled loudly into his shoulder.

"Ace, why did you- why did you- why did you take that blow for me...?" Luffy sobbed, choking on his tears, which were now flowing down his face in a torrent. "You promised, you promised you wouldn't die."

"You idiot, stop crying, I had to save you, you're my kid brother remember. Anyway I'm still alive I'm here now aren't I, I'll never die." Ace smirked.

"NO YOU DIED! YOU DIED! I couldn't save you; you died right in front of me. I was too weak to save you." Luffy sobbed. Ace's smirk disappeared.

"I know it looked like I died, I thought I died too but, I'm still alive?"

"No! Six years. You were dead six years!"

"What?"

* * *

Ace was confused, what did Luffy mean, six years. Surely it couldn't have been more than a few days. He then took another look at Luffy, he was crying into his shoulder hunched over. He had a huge scar on his chest, and stubble lining his jaw, a thick cloak was on his bare back and his shoulders were broader.

Luffy stood up straight and looked at him, that's when Ace realised, his little brother was... an inch taller than him.

What… the… hell….

Luffy couldn't have changed that much in the few short months between when they met in Alabasta and now. He didn't look like a crazy kid anymore; he looked like a grown man.

"Luffy what happened? Where are we? Where are the Whitebeard pirates?" Luffy had let go of him and had fallen to the ground he was now laying there on his back howling. When he finally managed to take a breath in between his sobs he looked up and said.

"Ace... I went back in time to save you. It's been six years since the battle of Marineford."

"What the hell Luffy? How?" If anyone else had said that he wouldn't believe them, but Luffy was a terrible liar.

Luffy sat up and rubbed the back of his head. "I found a mystery pocket watch."

Ace realised that's probably the best explanation he could get.

"Where are we?"

"On Tra-Guy's ship."

"Who?"

Ace had his question answered for him when Trafalgar Law stormed out onto the deck.

"Straw Hat-ya! I swear if you moved Fire Fist-ya I will never help you again!"

Luffy pouted, he stood up and jumped up onto Ace's back. "He woke up."

"I see."

Ace had only heard of Trafalgar Law once or twice in passing. He looked at the man in front of him, then back to Luffy. "Luffy, why are we here."

"Tra-Guy said he'd help you."

"Why?" Ace asked.

"Shishishishi we're in alliance."

"That was years ago, Straw Hat-ya," Law said rubbing his temples. "I'm helping you now because you promised me a favour remember."

"You saved Jimbei and me so we're friends." Luffy snivelled.

"We are not friends! And stop crying, you're hard to understand!" Law grumbled.

All this information was overloading Ace's brain. He thought the best course of action would be to thank the man.

"Thank you for looking after my bumbling kid brother, and saving me" Ace didn't know all the details; he assumed that would cover it though.

"Bumbling is an understatement." Law mumbled.

"Hahahaha, sorry if he's caused you trouble I know he's a handful."

"I don't know how you survived growing up with him; I swear his idiocy is catching."

Ace chuckled; he looked the man up and down.

"He did get himself into trouble a lot, almost got eaten multiple times."

"When we were in an alliance, he couldn't follow the simplest plan." Law sighed.

Ace chuckled, the more he talked with the man, the more he liked him. He was thankful that Luffy had him. They also seemed to have a mutual understanding of Luffy's antics.

"How much have you caught him up on Straw Hat-ya?" Law asked Luffy. Luffy sniffed trying to clear his nose.

"Only that we saved him and that we took him six years into the future."

"Shouldn't you tell him about his crew?"

Ace looked at Luffy expectantly. Luffy looked uncomfortable, he lowered his head.

"The Whitebeard pirates are all split up. The old man didn't make it."

Hearing that felt almost worse than all the pain he had felt the past few days. Part of him knew Pops was dead, yet he had still hoped. He put his hand up to his head, trying to stop the tears about to form; the shock of everything was beginning to catch up with him though.

"We can visit your graves if you want?" Luffy said.

"Huh?" Ace asked.

"Red Haired Shanks and your crew buried you, Whitebeard and the rest of the pirates that didn't make it in the war." Law told him.

"How can I be buried?" He asked.

"We swapped you with a wax doll." Luffy chuckled.

Ace was still confused, but he just accepted it.

"Ok Luffy, let's go there."

"Yosh!" Luffy yelled excitedly, tears and snot still pouring down his face.

"Straw Hat-ya, he's not completely healed yet." Law grumbled.

"I'm fine." Ace said.

"Shishishishi, let's get Yume and go!"

"Aren't you going to tell him the most important thing?" Law asked.

"What?" Luffy asked.

"Never mind, he'll figure it out eventually." Law turned around and walked inside the ship, without another word.

Ace watched Luffy as he ran towards the ships cabin door; tears were even now still running down his face. Though he was older, he was still so similar to how Ace remembered him, except now there seemed to be less of the child like wonder in Luffy's eyes.

He wondered whether his death had caused Luffy to change. Guilt built up inside him, he remembered the expression on Luffy's face as he had been dying back at Marineford. He imagined what would of happened if he hadn't managed to save Luffy; if he had been the one to be forced to live with without his brother.

"Oi Luffy!" Ace called.

Luffy paused and turned around.

"Hmm?"

"Thank you, for saving me."

Luffy smiled and tilted his head.

"We're brothers right? We always look out for each other."

"Yeah." Ace smirked.

He turned around to face the sea. He covered his eyes and bit his lip. But he couldn't stop the tears from falling. He had lost his father his crew; he had caused so much pain to them, to Luffy. That one question returned to his mind like a persistent cough.

Did he deserve to live?

Was Luffy right to bring him back?

Luffy stretched his arms out and launched himself at Ace; he gave him one more hug. He whispered in a light sob into his ear. "Please don't leave again, it was lonely without you."

Luffy than ran off back to the door and disappeared into the ship's cabin.

Ace wiped away the tears.

Geez, he didn't want Luffy to see him cry.

With a brother like that though, maybe he did deserve to live.

He smirked.

He had only two jobs now. Look after his brother, and try to find his crew. He also needed to get his hat back, and pay respect to his father.

But first, Ace needed food.

* * *

 **(A/N) ANNNNND DONE, Finally!**

 **I really really really, hope you enjoyed! This is like the most important chapter, which is why it has been taking soooo long."**

 **Reviewer: (Rest replied by Pm)**

 **Wow: Thanks for the review; I hope I surprised you a little. I put the watch not working thing in to try kinda explain how it works.  
HAHAHAHA I actually didn't even realise myself he was traveling in time with them (Even though I wrote it) Hahahaha I'll have to write Luffy actually taking him back to his own time.  
Initially I planned for Luffy to call the bird each time he jumped through time; I guess I forgot about it.  
Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please continue to review!**

 **Thank you all!**

 **अलविदा, do widzenia, Auf Wiedersehen TATA all!**

 **UmbraAurumDragon OUT!**

 **P.S. Silence is renamed to Beat in Silence. Just to make it a little different.**


	11. Chapter 11- Luffy's Vivre Card?

**(A/N) I'm so sorry this took so long, I've been swamped with uni and I had a friend come over from the other side of Australia for a while, she only just left a couple hours ago. And I regret to inform you that I won't be able to update for a while. I have 2 massive assignments on top of the weekly reports, then a quiz and then exam block.**

 **But holidays start for me on the 15** **th** **of November.**

 **But I'll apologize with an interesting uni fact:** **Did you guys know that roses don't actually have thorns they're actually only prickles!**

 **Anyways here's the next chapter! Oh and there is spoilers in this chapter so dub people don't read this k?**

 **Beat in Silence is finished.**

 **Thanks everyone!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own OP**

* * *

 **Candle Heat**

 **Chapter 11- Luffy's Vivre Card?**

Law couldn't believe what had just happened, Straw Hat-ya had actually gone back in time and saved Fire Fist. He really could pull off anything; Law was beginning to think it was going way beyond luck.

Law chuckled, he felt sorry for Fire Fist-ya. Apart from the fact Luffy hadn't detached himself from his brother since he woke up; he also hadn't really given him any information on what was going on. Including the fact that he had become The Pirate King; a fact that still surprised Law. He also seemingly forgot to tell Fire Fist about their other brother being alive. Law smirked as he rubbed his temples; Fire Fist was in for quite a few surprises.

Law looked at the map sitting in front of him, he was planning on going the West Blue, and he didn't know how much longer he could stand Straw Hat-ya, but he kind of wanted to see what would happen with Fire Fist. He didn't want to get too involved but taking them to Fire Fist's grave wasn't too out of his way. Also that bird Straw Hat-ya had been riding looked half dead. He really didn't want Straw Hat-ya to fall into the sea. Well... At least not yet...

He made up his mind; he would accompany the brothers a little longer.

"Oi, Straw Hat-ya," He called walking up to him. "Let that bird go home, I'll take you where you need to go."

"Sure!" Luffy yelled jumping around excitedly. Law was already reconsidering his decision; it always seemed like a good idea to team up with Straw Hat-ya until he saw him.

Straw Hat- Ya ran up and hugged Law.

Law tensed.

"Shambles."

He swapped places with Fire Fist-Ya. Luffy didn't appear to mind and he just hugged Ace tight.

Ace gave him a look of murder; he had only just managed to detach himself from Luffy.

Law chuckled.

Yume- Ya walked out from inside the ship. Luffy ran up to her to tell her the news.

The little girl moaned, she muttered something about a creepy man, Law assumed was him. She was now complaining to Straw Hat-ya, she was acting like Luffy had just drop kicked her cat, apparently she hadn't forgiven Law for cutting her up.

That girl worried Law, she was powerful, the image she had shown him seemed so real. Straw Hat-ya had found a potentially dangerous new crew mate.

Fire Fist laughed at Luffy, he rested his elbows on the submarines railings.

"Don't you have stuff to do Luffy?" He asked.

"Nahhh my crew can handle it; we'll meet up with them soon." Luffy chuckled.

The large black bird collapsed to the ground it looked at Law as if he was his saviour.

"I know the feeling bird." Law said under his breath.

* * *

Chopper was fretting, he always worried when Luffy was gone for long periods of time, normally because when he came back he would be covered in wounds and blood. He fiddled with his shirt and walked up to Robin. "Robin..." He said looking up at her. "Do you think Luffy's ok?" She smiled.

"I'm sure he's fine." She said patting his head.

"Of course Luffy is SUPER ok! He's The Pirate King!" Franky said walking up to them.

"He's also still Luffy, who knows what he's gotten himself into." Nami said from underneath one of her Tangerine trees.

"I wonder if he's lost a limb like red hair." Robin said absent minded. Choppers mouth dropped.

"That's not helping Robin!" Franky said with a sigh.

"Yohohohoho he'll probably meet us at the meeting spot a few days after we get there." Brook said with a laugh.

"That idiot wouldn't pass up a chance to see his brother." Sanji said giving everyone a drink around the circle of conversation that had formed.

"I hope so." Chopper said eyes downcast

"We miss him too." Brook said patting his shoulder.

"Yeah the ship feels empty without him, doesn't it?" Nami asked. They all nodded in agreement.

"Nami how long till we're there?" Franky asked, after a brief pause.

"We'll be there in just over two days." She replied.

"And we get to see Koala and Sabo again?" Chopper asked with wide eyes.

"Yes of course," Robin said with a laugh. "I look forward to seeing them too."

Ussop suddenly ran over from the other end of the Sunny.

"Hey Chopper! Brook! Franky! Want to play a game?" He asked in a huff.

"What is it?" Chopper asked tilting his head.

"I call it, 'How many chopsticks can fit into Zoro's snoring mouth'" He said with a sly smile.

"Yohohohoho, I want to play!" Brook yelled running past Usopp.

"Me too!" Chopper said with a giggle.

"I have to see this!" Sanji smirked following them. Nami, Robin and Franky also followed them to the other side of the ship, where Zoro's snoring form was leaning against the side of the ship. Usopp and Brook had already gotten three chopsticks each into his mouth and he hadn't moved, so Chopper decided it was safe enough to add a few himself. In no time Zoro's mouth was overflowing with chopsticks, and now the three of them were worried he'd wake up if they stuffed another one in. Sanji was laughing hysterically almost crying at the green haired swordsman.

"I don't think we can fit any more in." Usopp said.

"No I don't believe we can." Brook replied

"Keep going there's still plenty of room." Nami chuckled.

"If you think so, you do it!" Usopp told her.

"No way! I don't want to get killed." She said backing off.

"Chicken!" Ussop teased.

Chopper and Brook joined in teasing her and egging her on until she looked like she was about to explode.

"Fine you guys were doing it wrong anyway!" Nami said walking over and snatching a few chopsticks. "How about we make a bet," She said with a sly smile. "Ten thousand berries, I can shove five more into his mouth?" Before the others could reply, she shoved the five down his throat.

* * *

Although the food on The Heart Pirates ship want exactly restaurant quality it was certainly better than the food from Impel Down.

He and Luffy together managed to eat over half of the ship's stock of food. Luffy was reaching across to different people's plates, stealing their food, normal Luffy behaviour. When he went for Ace's, Ace was ready for him, he grabbed Luffy's arm when it snaked its way on to his plate.

Luffy paused for a second to look at Ace, granted he was still stuffing his face with his other hand. Ace smirked.

"What you going to do Luffy?" Ace asked.

They stared into each other's eyes, waiting for someone to make the first move.

Ace looked down at his plate.

It was empty...

Ace let go of Luffy to grab his head with both hands. Where the hell had his food gone? Luffy stood up and swallowed his last bit of meat.

"Thanks for the food!" He looked down at Ace and grinned, he then ran off.

"You jerk!" Ace yelled getting up and chasing him onto the deck. Luffy fell onto the wood and rolled on the ground laughing.

"You're older than me now Luffy act like it!"

Ace glared at him, he walked over and hit Luffy on the head. He expected him to complain or a bump to form, but Luffy kept on laughing, the only difference was that now he was louder.

Did…. Luffy…. just… control…. haki?

Maybe he hadn't matured much, but Luffy was definitely stronger.

Ace remembered him using conquerors haki back at Marineford but, seeing him able to control it was strange.

"When did you learn to do that Luffy?" He asked.

"Just after the battle at Marineford, Rayleigh taught me!" Luffy chuckled.

"Rayleigh?" Ace asked.

"Yosh! He's super strong and trained me for a year and a half! I could be stronger then you now Ace!"

"Impossible!" Ace replied. "You may be older now Luffy but I'm still the older brother and you're still a cry baby!"

"Shishishishi, not anymore."

"Says the one who has been crying all day."

Ace walked over and lay down next to Luffy; they looked up into the starry night sky together.

"We can have so many more adventures now." Luffy chuckled. The thought brought a smile to Ace's face.

"Yeah I would like that."

"We can go hunting again and steal eggs and fly on Sakatori!" Luffy was getting excited again.

"Remember when you almost got eaten by that crocodile?" Ace chuckled.

"That was your fault!" Luffy grumbled.

"And the centipede."

"Hmmmf." Luffy grumbled.

"And the anaconda." Ace was clutching his sides laughing. Luffy's face softened and he laughed along with Ace.

"We'll have to have another match to see who's the strongest. I bet I could beat you now" Luffy smirked.

"Oh you reckon?" Ace chuckled. "I don't think I could ever lose to you."

"Just you wait and see I'm stronger now!" Luffy sat up.

"I look forward to it." Ace chuckled.

They spent the rest of the night recalling old memories and laughing together, when they grew tired they fell asleep next to each other, just as they used to do.

When morning came Ace woke up but stayed lying there next to Luffy with his eyes closed, enjoying the warmth of the sun on his skin; Luffy then sat up. Ace didn't move and just kept pretending to sleep.

"It's my turn to be the older brother Ace," Luffy said. "I won't let anything else happen to you."

Ace clenched his fists; he now felt like he understood what it was like to be Luffy growing up with two older brothers.

Somewhere in the past few years Luffy had overtaken him. He was stronger now, Ace could feel it, the hard part now was accepting that his brother didn't need his protection anymore. Regardless, Ace would always be there to keep him safe, no matter what.

It was his promise to Sabo.

* * *

Zoro's eye opened, he spat out some weird sticks across the ship. He looked around expecting to see Usopp. However Nami appeared to be the culprit, he glared at her. She giggled and slowly backed away. "Zoro! The others made me do it!" He glared over at Chopper, Usopp and Brook. All four of them suddenly ran, ehhhh he could get them later, he was still tired.

He fell back to sleep.

…..

He woke up thirsty he wanted some booze.

He looked around, the chef and Nami were gone; he smirked, he could break into the freezer.

The freezer where Sanji hid the meat from Luffy was downstairs. He walked down and into the room. Nami was inside and turned around and saw him. Apparently she had been hiding from him.

"Come on Zoro, it was just a joke." She said walking backwards waving her hands in front of her face. He started walking up to her, when the door slammed behind him.

Oh shit.

He turned around and pulled at the handle... It was locked. Goddammit he couldn't even use his swords otherwise Franky would kill him for breaking the ship and the stupid spiral brow would complain about the broken freezer room.

Nami started twitching... "Are we... Locked in?" She asked.

"Yeah," Zoro said grabbing some booze. "Someone will come get us out soon, till then, I'll take a nap."

"What the hell, it's freezing in here, get us out of here you jerk!" She yelled.

"If you get cold don't come near me." He grunted as he took a sip.

"I wouldn't want to!" She yelled.

"Hey it's not my fault you wear pretty much nothing."

"It's not my fault we're locked in here!"

Zoro rolled over.

"Night." He said closing his eye.

After a few minutes Nami apparently got too cold in her flimsy attire and came and sat next to him in a grumpy huff. He smirked and in no time at all he was asleep.

* * *

Sabo was so glad to be out on the sea again, he was most looking forward to seeing Luffy though. It had been too long since he had seen his little brother, and he wanted to see what kind of treasures the new Pirate King had found. Although it was not all fun and games, they were headed to a meeting place where all the leaders of the revolutionary army would converge and on a serious matter too. He hoped the information Luffy would give him would help, because there was a battle coming, and every last hint of information might decide the winner.

He looked out across the sea, he wondered if they might even meet Luffy along the way. He looked to the left then to the right. He was curious as to which direction he would come from.

He took off his top hat, and reached inside it into a little pocket, inside was a little piece of vivre card with Luffy's name on it. He pulled it out and placed it on his palm and waited for it to move.

One second, nothing.

Two seconds, nothing.

Ten seconds, nothing.

Sabo began to panic, why wasn't it moving, this had never happened before. Was his little brother ok?

He looked at it again; it looked slightly transparent, was Luffy dying somehow? Wouldn't it get smaller if he was dying?

There was one way to find out.

He ran across the deck towards the door to the cabins. He bumped into Koala on the way down.

"Hey Sabo what's the hurry?" She asked. All Sabo heard was a mumble though. His mind was completely focused on getting to the room where the transponder snails were kept.

He couldn't lose another brother.

* * *

Brook was tuning his violin when a noise rang out across the ship. Brook followed the noise till he came into the room with the ship's main transponder snail in it. It was ringing loudly, Brook picked it up and it made its typical clicking noise.

"Yohohohoho! Brook here!" He said into the receiver.

"Where is Luffy!?" A voice on the other end of the line asked in a desperate tone.

"Who is this?" He asked.

"Sabo!"

"Oh hello! How are you?"

"Skeleton! Where is Luffy?"

"He said he had something to do with Red Haired Shanks."

"He's not with you?"

"No, what is the problem?"

"Look at your vivre card of Luffy, let me know if you find out anything."

Kerchunk.

The phone hung up. Brook took out Luffy's vivre card and looked at it.

Uh-oh...

Brook ran out on deck in hysteria, he was yelling and screaming 'We have a problem!'

Once the crew had managed to settle him down, they all looked at Luffy's vivre card.

"What have you done this time Luffy?" Franky sighed with a shake of his head.

"LUFFY'S DYING!" Usopp yelled in hysterics.

"What do we do?" Chopper cried.

"We follow the captain's orders; we go meet Sabo and wait for Luffy." Sanji said in a no arguments tone.

The crew all nodded all with varying degrees of worry.

Brook decided to play a song to try lifting the crew's spirits, but their worry was not abated.

* * *

Robin looked out across the water; their destination was coming closer and closer. She was anxious to talk to Sabo and the other revolutionaries; she had so much to tell them, and so many questions to ask. Number one being; what possibly could be the reason for the way Luffy's vivre was acting. She had been studying all the books they had on the ship trying to find anything on why a vivre card would stop moving. All she had found were rumours and theories and none of them were good.

Sanji had managed to take charge and calm the crew temporarily, but every one was scared. Something had happened to Luffy and they had no way to find out what. They just hoped someone from the revolutionary army would have some clue.

The ship pulled in to the bay and they docked. To say they attracted attention would be an understatement. The meeting place was a small island that was under control of the revolutionary army. So the appearance of a pirate ship that hadn't been seen in months at the meeting place of the revolutionaries appeared to terrify the townsfolk.

Sabo and Koala were waiting for them.

"Sabo, Koala!" Robin exclaimed running up to hug her old friends.

"Robin! It's good to see you again!" Koala said with a smile.

"Did you find anything out about Luffy?" Sabo asked.

"No," Robin replied. "We have no idea what happened to him."

"Well I just managed to track down Red Hair's transponder snail number, why don't we go inside and see if we can find anything."

Robin followed Sabo and Koala into town followed closely by the rest of the crew. All of them eager to find out what had happened to their captain.

They walked up a pathway to an old house. Flowers lined the path and greeted them with a sweet aroma. The willows on either side of the house blowing in the wind, they looked like dancing dryads their branches beckoning them into the building. The house reminded Robin of somewhere an old lady might live. Its roof was thatched and there was an old rocking chair on the porch.

"This is where I've been staying since we got here." Sabo said walking up the steps and inviting them inside.

They sat around a table with a transponder snail sitting at its center. It appeared to be one with a wide range considering its size.

Sabo picked up the receiver and handed it to Sanji, he then typed in a number on the snails shell.

It rang twice before it clicked.

"Hello?" The voice on the other end of the line said.

"Red hair?" Sanji asked.

"Yep that's me, is that you Sanji?"

"Yea, hey Red Hair, we were wondering how Luffy is, his vivre card is acting up."

There was a pause on the other end of the line.

"Dahahahaha! Bet you guys are doing crazy!" He laughed.

"This is no time for jokes! Where is our dumbass captain!?"

"You have nothing to worry about, I'm sure he'll be with you soon. And he'll probably have a surprise for you." Shanks said slyly after finally stopping laughing.

"But where is he?" Sanji asked.

"You'll see! Talk to you later bye!"

He hung up.

"He's almost as bad as you Sabo." Koala huffed.

Robin giggled behind her hand. They hadn't got any answers but if Red Hair said Luffy was safe, she would trust him.

Sabo let out a sigh.

"I guess we just have to wait then."

"In the meantime why don't I cook us some lunch, Nami Swan Robin Chwan, what would you like?"

"I don't mind Sanji." Robin said with a smile.

"Naamm- Wait. Where's Nami?" Sanji said looking around the room.

"Zoro's not here either." Franky said looking around.

"I'll go back to the ship and find them!" Sanji yelled standing.

"Zoro probably got lost." Usopp said with a sigh.

"With Nami?" Chopper asked.

"Maybe they're alone together." Robin said.

Sanji heard this just before he was about to open the door. He turned around fire in his eyes.

"I'm going to kill that stupid Marimo."

He ran out the door without another word leaving the rest of them in silence.

* * *

 **(A/N) Hope you enjoyed! I was planning on them leaving Law but I love him too much, so he'll be in it a little longer!**

 **Oh and just letting you know the bit with Sabo was before Luffy came back to that time.**

 **Thanks to the people who favourites, follows and reviews.**

 **Guest Reviews: rest via pm.**

 **Guest: Here is the next chapter! Thanks for the review!**

 **Keenyeah: Wait did you cry? OMG! I didn't think I could make people sad let alone cry! Thanks for the review! And yes he is!**

 **Guest Number 2: I know! I'm excited to write it!**

 **Wow: I always sit waiting constantly refreshing my browser waiting for your review, they're so great Hahahaha. Thanks so much (for this review and the one on Beat in Silence). And Naaaah, I won't age him up there wouldn't be much point, I'm too lazy to go try research and find out Bonney's personality anyway. I'm really excited to write Ace and Luffy interactions. Hahahaha yes, don't worry bird will be free soon! And nope he hasn't, Hehehehe I'm going to enjoy writing that bit.**

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 **Tata**

 **UmbraAurumDragon out!**


	12. Chapter 12- Yoru Island

**(A/N) Another chapter! Aren't I good?**

 **Interesting uni fact time! Did you guys know that naked mole rats can't get cancer? :O**

 **Disclaimer: don't own One Piece, not Oda.**

 **I did have a rant below but I deleted it, it really in essence said I changed bits of previous chapters and asked for reviewers to please be nice.**

 **Thanks everyone for your support, Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Candle Heart**

 **Chapter 12- Yoru Island**

"Bye Sakatori." Luffy said to the bird, they were on an island, back in the past. Yume was crying and holding the bird, Luffy was joining her in a tearful farewell. Ace was reading a newspaper he found, apparently still stunned at Luffy's new time travel item.

"We'll see you in a few years." He told the bird. It nodded and gently nudged Yume away before it spread its huge ebony black wings, the light shining through them only made them look more majestic. The bird launched itself into the air and flew off, letting out a few trills as a goodbye.

"I'm going to miss him." Yume said sniffing.

"We'll see him again." Luffy told her.

"But he won't see us for years, won't he get lonely?" Yume asked. Luffy thought about it for a while.

"Maybe he has his own Nakama he'll be with." That seemed to calm her down; Luffy picked her up and placed her on his shoulders, which earned a giggle.

"Ace let's go!" He yelled out.

Ace dropped the newspaper and grabbed Luffy's shoulder as he moved the dial forward.

They didn't see the bird let out a sigh of relief, nor did they see him look back one last time.

* * *

Sanji didn't think he'd ever run so fast, no way that stupid Marimo was putting his hands on Nami Swan. He ran through the town skidding around corners and bends. He finally made it to the dock, he ran up the gangplank, searching for the two with his haki. He looked around the ship until he finally sensed the two of them below deck; he jumped down the stairs three at a time and ran through the ships corridors to the kitchen. He yanked open the door to the freezer room, there sitting in the corner was his beautiful Nami Swan. But she was sleeping, laying her head on... on... The stupid swordsman's shoulder. Sanji stared wide eyed and mouth agape at the two. He couldn't move, he was totally flabbergasted, if only he had noticed Nami's disappearance earlier. Nami opened her eyes and sat up with a yawn. "Sanji, is that you?" She asked standing up.

Sanji's response was a muffled squeak.

"Thanks for finally finding us, it was getting really cold." She said walking over.

"Ehhhh," Zoro said getting up. "Did someone finally find us? Oh it's you cook. You took your time."

Hearing this shattered Sanji's surprise. He jumped over and attacked Zoro.

"You stupid Marimo! How dare you touch my precious Nami Swan!"

"I wasnt touching the witch you stupid spiral brow!"

Nami glared at him but took the opportunity to leave and get a blanket to warm up.

"Hey Sanji can you make me something warm?" She said sweetly interrupting the fight.

"Of course Nami Swaaan!" Sanji said wriggling around.

"Oh me too?" Zoro asked. Sanji glared at him before replying.

"Go make it yourself baka!"

Zoro grunted and walked upstairs.

"So what's been happening Sanji?" Nami asked from under the blanket sipping at her hot chocolate Sanji had just quickly made and handed her.

"Luffy's vivre card stopped moving." He replied as he began to make her some food.

She splattered hot chocolate out of her mouth.

"What has he done this time!?"

"Probably something insane." Sanji sighed.

"There's no doubt about that," she replied mimicking his sigh. "I assume we made it to the meeting point."

"Yeah, met up with Sabo and Koala and called Shanks, he said not to worry about Luffy." Nami visibly relaxed a little.

"That's good; do we know when the meeting is?"

"No I rushed over before I could ask."

"I think I'm ok now, let's get Zoro and see the others." Nami said. Sanji let out a huff but nodded and started to head up on to the deck. The swordsman was waiting there napping in the sun, the tinge of blue that was on his skin now gone as well as Nami's. Sanji kicked his thigh. "Get up." He told him before heading down the gangplank behind Nami. Zoro grunted but did as he was told. Sanji was still mad at him. He would never forgive him for this. Oh if only he had gotten locked in that tiny room with Nami Swan, he thought to himself with a smile.

Sanji lead them into town and walked up into the house. As he opened the door he pulled out a cigarette and said "Found them." Albeit his tone was not a happy one.

"Koala!" Nami said running up and embracing her.

"Nami we were worried about you and Zoro, what happened?" She asked.

"The idiot got us locked in a freezer." Nami said, the veins on her forehead becoming visible.

"Lucky you didn't freeze to death." Robin said.

"Don't Say such morbid things so casually!" Chopper yelled at her. She brought her hand to her lips and giggled behind it.

"So when's the meeting?" Sanji asked.

"In a just over a week." Koala replied with a smile.

"That's SUPER! That gives time for Luffy to come back! " Franky yelled striking a pose. Would he ever get sick of that, Sanji pondered.

"There's one problem though," Sabo said, running his hands through his hair, the revolutionary army only wants one of you there, two if Luffy gets here on time, but if he doesn't, they only want Robin in the meeting.

"Understandable." Usopp said, obviously glad not to have to meet a huge number of powerful leaders.

"As much as I don't want to see Ivankov again, someone has to go with Robin to look after her." Sanji said.

"I'll be fine." She told him smiling.

"You sure?" Jinbe asked

"Of course, I'll have Sabo and Koala won't I?" This information calmed the crew down considerably; they accepted it and moved back to the topic of their captain.

"Maybe he'll get here before the meeting, with more information." Brook suggested.

"Hopefully." Sabo said with a smile.

* * *

"I feel like I'm turning into lasagne." Luffy complained as he spayed himself out across the deck.

"Come on Luffy, it's not that hot." Ace told him. Luffy didn't hear that statement though because now his thoughts were on food and lasagne. Ace rolled his eyes, knowing exactly what his brother was thinking about.

"Hey Law, there's a desert island called Yoru, close by here isn't there?" Ace asked the surgeon.

"Yes we're stopping there for supplies." Law replied as he walked up to him, glancing down at Luffy he sighed. "Luffy-ya I can buy you, your brother and the little annoying one food while there."

"Really? Thanks Tra-guy!" Luffy said perking up.

"You three can explore the island after that while we get what we need, we'll only be a few hours so don't go far."

Luffy ignored him and looked over at the approaching island. They had only recently surfaced from under water, and Luffy had hated every second. The minute the submarine had surfaced he had run out on deck only to be confronted by the intense heat.

He then noticed something weird about the island, the sand was a dark blue. It reminded him of the night sky; the houses looked like little bright stars on the inky blue see of sand.

"Wooooahhhh!" Luffy said as they got closer, things only become weirder from then on. Luffy had never been to this island, it was one of the many few he hadn't travelled to.

Law watched Luffy's expression as they got closer and smirked.

Luffy then noticed the ships, they had sails, small boxes big enough to fit two people and decks, but they were on the sand, no water was around them. Occasionally animals popped up out of the sand and floated in the air until they dived back down.

"WOAAAH!" Luffy repeated. "SOOO COOL!"

"Hahahaha, you still find wonderment in everything don't you Luffy? Ace asked him.

"You've been here before?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah, Marco and I took a detour here after a mission; we heard there were caves here that interested us. They are awesome Luffy."

"I want to tame the biggest one." Was Luffy's only reply, looking over at the creatures jumping out of the sand. They were a bright red that contrasted highly with the dark sand; they had thin bodies, shaped in a large oval, with long thin tails of bright green.

"They're called the sting rays of the blue sand. Doctors flock here for their tails, the males have a medicinal antidote, whilst the females have a deadly toxin.

"I should get one for Chopper." Luffy said staring at them wide eyed.

The ship pulled into the bay, and they docked. The gangplank was being put down but before it could even finish, Luffy ran off towards the closest restaurant. Ace and Law glanced at each other with knowing looks before following after him.

Luffy came to a large white building it, like all of the other buildings had shiny, new metal roofs. He ran in and sat at the bar. "Food food food food food, LASAGNA! MEAT! FOOD!" He was almost drooling when a disgruntled Yume, Ace, Law and some of his crew walked in and sat next to him.

It wasnt long till the food was served; Luffy wanted to provide some entertainment while they were eating. He sneakily reached a few seats over and used his stretched out arm to steal Law's hat and sword. He retracted his arm quickly before Law could react; he put the hat on and leaned the sword on his shoulder.

"Hey, hey Ace, Yume, I'm Tra-Guy!" He said lifting up his hand palm down and putting on a grouchy frown.

"I do not look like that Straw Hat-ya, now give my stuff back!" He demanded menacingly.

"Shishishishi, nope," Luffy replied jumping up. "I don't like bread!" He continued chuckling to himself; Law's crew chortled at that remark. Luffy continued to do impressions till Law apparently lost his patience. He smirked, and lifted up his hand, palm down.

"Room!" He said

Luffy looked at him his head cocked to the side.

"What you doing Tra-Guy?" Law's smile widened.

"Shambles!"

Suddenly Laws hat and sword were back in his arms, and all Luffy's food was gone... Replaced with sand.

"No way! Law... The food...?" Luffy looked distraught. Ace started laughing his head off, Yume followed suit.

"Law! Give me back my food?" Luffy whined.

Law gave in and returned the food, of which Luffy promptly ate.

"Ace let's go explore!" Luffy said as he finished.

"Sure Luffy." Ace said standing up and following him. Yume glanced at Law, he smiled at her, and she ran after Luffy who was waiting outside for her.

* * *

After Luffy had managed to tame one of the creatures, which he creatively dubbed Ray Ray. Luffy turned to face Ace.

"Ace, want to have a match?" He asked.

"Sure thing." Ace grinned at Luffy; he wanted to see just how strong his little brother had become.

Luffy yelled, raising his hands into the air, he looked way too excited.

"Yume, keep score ok?" Luffy asked the girl, she nodded.

"Not that we need to keep score, I'll win every match, like always." Ace said with a smirk.

Luffy chuckled and moved away from him on the night like sand, he made a familiar fighting stance. Ace couldn't help but smile fondly at the memories arising to his mind, he shook his head, he wouldn't let himself get distracted. He lowered his centre of gravity, turned slightly side on with his feet apart and raised his fists. Luffy looked at him, there was a determined fire in his eyes, Ace new Luffy wouldn't go easy on him, so neither would he.

"Gear second!"

A very noticeably pink, steaming Luffy suddenly ran towards him with a battle cry; was Luffy mocking him, this was almost exactly the same as all his old attacks, excluding the pinkness. Luffy suddenly disappeared, Ace was confused for a second, his haki was almost completely gone. Then he felt a heavy weight on the side of his face, he was launched metres away. He sat up dazed, what?

Yume moved back quite a bit.

As Ace was getting up he heard Luffy shout out again, he was back to his normal colour but his forehead was a dark grey with armoured haki, he shot his head back and head butted Ace. Ace slid backwards on the sand.

Luffy attacked Ace again, this time he was ready, he used his own Haki to deflect the blow. He then made his own attack using his fire to try burn Luffy, it did nothing against, his haki infused skin, they scuffled, constantly making and dodging attacks.

Ace began to take the upper hand until.

"Gear Third!" Luffy yelled

When Ace saw what Luffy's arm turned into he fell on his back laughing, it was huge! He cried with tears of intense humour.

That was until he got beaten... Bad.

He recovered quickly firing his own attacks, but too little avail, as the fight progressed Luffy kept revealing new abilities, just how versatile was Luffy's devil fruit. Ace used to think it was useless, but seeing how Luffy used it now, he could see its true value, and yet, any other person with this devil fruit, probably wouldn't be anywhere near crazy enough to think up the techniques Luffy was using.

It didn't take long for Ace to get tired and receive quite a few bruises, by now he was so sick of hearing gomu gomu no! He might explode the next time Luffy said it.

The fight lasted over an hour; they had luckily chosen a spot out in the middle of nowhere as there were burn holes and crater holes everywhere from various attacks. Ace was noticing something though, although Luffy was getting the odd bruise here and there, he wasn't yet using his full power, he was still holding back.

This made Ace mad. He was surely past warlord level with the amount of power he had seen, just how much more did Luffy have?

Suddenly Luffy stopped.

"I'm hungry." Luffy stated sitting down rubbing his grumbly belly.

Ace laughed, they had only just eaten, it was good to know his brother was still a bottomless pit. He offered Luffy a hand and they stood up.

"We'll finish the match later." Luffy said with a chuckle.

"Sure thing." Ace replied grasping his arm. Ace new that Luffy was the obvious winner. But he was sure he'd be able to catch up soon.

Then the matches would be even again, or rather not perfectly even but even in his favour, he chuckled.

Luffy then looked around.

"What's up?" Ace asked.

"Where's Yume?" He asked.

They looked around and spotted her peeking out from behind a rock over a kilometre away.

"Is it over?" She whimpered coming closer.

"Yosh!" Luffy as she got close.

"You guys are crazy." She said with a terrified look on her face, hidden behind it though, Ace could see exhilaration.

"Shishishishi, food food food food." Luffy began humming as he walked off.

Ace smiled at his back and followed behind him.

* * *

Once they had gotten more food for Luffy, the three of them set out to go find the caves, Ace had told them about. As soon as they walked outside the restaurant, Yume held on to the edge of Luffy's shorts. Luffy had told him a little about her, being raised as a slave had caused her to have distrust in many people, although she seemed to be warming up to Ace.

Ace walked up to one of the sand ships, he asked the owner for usage of it for the afternoon and told Luffy and Yume to hop on. He thanked the man and pushed the ship outside the line of houses and hopped on himself. He lowered the sail, and the instant it opened a gust of wind pushed it forward at an amazingly fast speed.

"What happens if there is no wind?" Yume asked.

"One of the giant sting rays pulls the ship." He replied.

"Awesome!" Luffy chuckled. "We should get Ray Ray to pull it!"

Ace rolled his eyes and looked up into the sky. Something had seemed off about the town when he was there it had seemed deserted, but looking at the thunder clouds in the sky, he decided to attribute the lack of people to the impending storm.

The sand ship surfed across the sand, sting rays followed behind them jumping out of the sand. The hot sun beat down on their shoulders; within minutes there skin began to tan and burn. Luffy groaned stretching out on the deck, Yume was sitting under the little shade cabin area and Ace was at the front of the ship steering the sand surfing ship.

After ten minutes Ace pulled the ship to a stop, he raised the sail and jumped off the boat. "Coming Luffy?" He asked looking back at him. Luffy looked around confused.

"There's nothing here?" He said scratching his head.

Ace smiled and walked across the sand, he looked back at Luffy and fell backwards.

"Ace!" Luffy yelled as Ace fell down.

Luffy and Yume ran up to where Ace had disappeared, but scrambled to a stop at the side of a crevice. They looked down at Ace who was standing in ankle deep water he smirked up at them. Luffy grabbed Yume and jumped into the shallow water. Ace chuckled as the two looked around, the ice cold water stretched out for kilometres in the huge cavern. At the caverns edges plants, flowers and trees were growing. Animals of all sorts walked around the bright cavern. The small sliver of sun filtering through the whole in the roof reflected across the crystal surfaces of the cavern walls and the ice stalagmites and stalactites coming out of the water and roof.

"What's this? It's awesome!" Luffy said wide eyed

Yume shivered "Why is it so cold?" She asked.

"The spring erupting from under ground is rumoured to come from a nearby winter island." Ace said walking towards one of the walls. "The cavern stretches on for miles under the island in ravines. The inhabitants of the island use this place for mining and food." He said touching the crystal surface. Luffy was still looking around wide eyed.

"The male rays lick the icicles, that's were they get the antidote in their tales from. The ice is sweet and said to have medicinal properties that the sting rays enhance."

"Sweet?" Luffy asked running over to one sticking out of the water.

"Luffy don't!" Ace tried to warn him, but to no avail. Luffy wrapped his arms around the ice and began to lick it.

"Mmmm," Luffy said. "Iths sweeth." Ace's head fell back and he laughed. Luffy's tongue was stuck to the ice.

"Hahahaha, you idiot!"

"Whath?" He said hanging from the tip of the ice from just his tongue. Luffy pushed his hands and feet against the ice and he tried to detach his tongue.

"Shouldn't we help?" Yume looked up at Ace.

"Nope he can get himself out of this mess." He chuckled.

"Athe pleasthe melth the icthe?" Luffy whined.

Yume chuckled behind her hand. Luffy was now on the ground moving away from the ice, his tongue stretching with him, showing no sign of coming off. He turned to face the ice.

"Gomu Gomu No Bazooka!" He said pulling his arms back and hitting the ice. It exploded upon impact however, a huge piece of ice was still attached to his tongue, as his tongue retracted it came straight at his face. It hit him and he fell backward into the water. He flayed around in the water, Ace walked over and picked him up by the collar. A huge chunk of ice was in his mouth.

"You trying to drown yourself?" Ace roared with laughter.

Luffy crossed his arms and huffed, he stretched out his lips and swallowed the ice whole. He poked out his tongue and wiggled out of Ace's grasp. He began chasing around Yume, Ace watched as they splashed water at each other.

"We should go; Law might leave without us if we're late."

* * *

Law walked into a near by supply shop, he couldn't help but notice the place was partially destroyed. He was curious as to what had happened; a lot had changed since last time he was here. The roofs of the houses weren't metal, and kids had been running through the streets. Something was definitely wrong. He only hoped that he wouldn't get caught up in it. His curiosity wouldn't be worth the trouble. He grabbed what he needed and walked over to the owner. It wouldn't hurt to ask what was wrong; he needed to be prepared for the worst after all.

"What's happened here? He asked the owner as he was tallying up the items Law was buying.

"Criminals have been taking advantage of the rain." He said his face void of emotion.

"The rain?" Law asked.

"Yes, didn't you see the sign at the front of the town?" Law grimaced.

"I was distracted by a certain someone, what did it say?"

"It started a few months ago, everyone who was out in the open either got sick or died."

"What?"

"The rain, it's toxic."

Law stood up

"When will the next rain come?"

"From the looks of the sky, in only about half an hour."

"Straw Hat-ya..." Law groaned running out of the shop. "How does he always manage to get caught in these situations?"

* * *

Luffy already missed the cool underground caves; even though the sky was now overcast it was still very hot. He was excited to get back soon he could see his crew; they would be so surprised to see Ace he chuckled. With the way the wind was gusting it looked like they'd get back soon.

Just as Luffy was thinking this, the wind stopped.

"Yay! We get to see Ray Ray!"

"Ok call him Luffy." Ace told him.

It didn't take long for the ray to show up; they connected the harness and were off in no time.

Ace was still steering the ship, Luffy looked across the sand and smiled as the wind from the rays speed ruffled his hair. He then felt something drip onto his arm, enormous pain shot from the spot. He gripped it where had that come from? He looked to the sky, a theory bubbling into his mind.

He stood up and walked over to Ace.

"Hey Ace can I steer? You and Yume can sit in the little cabin?" Ace thought about it, then nodded and conceded his spot and sat in the little cabin next to Yume. In a flash Luffy jumped over and shut the cabin door and locked it. He imbued the walls with haki so Ace couldn't get out; he moved to the front of the ship and told the sting ray to hurry. In minutes the rain was falling heavily, each drop on Luffy's felt like hot needles poking through his skin. Luffy groaned in pain, not even noticing now where the ray was taking them. Ace and Yume banged on the cabin door.

"Luffy!" Ace screamed pounding on the haki imbued wood. "What's going on?"

"Luffy! Let us out." Yume begged.

Luffy grunted in pain.

"Are you ok Luffy?" Ace asked.

"I'm fine." Luffy said leaning against the other side of the door.

"Luffy!"

"Ahhh!" Yume screamed gripping her arm.

"What happened?" Ace asked. Yume was about to answer when something dripped from the cabin roof onto his leg. He gripped it biting his tongue. This rain was pouring outside on Luffy.

"Luffy! Luffy! Luffy!" He screamed "Open this door!"

There was no answer.

"LUFFY!"

* * *

 **(A/N) Hope you enjoyed. Sorry for the cliff hanger!**

 **Reviewers:**

 **Wow: Thanks for the review! I might include Marco, I'm a bit hesitant because I'm not sure what's going to happen to them in the cannon, but I have a plan that may work. I hope you enjoy this chapter! And yes you already asked about Marco haha.**

 **Nyshalla: (Beat in Silence) I'm glad you enjoyed the stories! Nah I'm not much of a LawLu fan, I don't really ship Luffy with anyone, maybe Hancock a little, but them getting together would ruin the comedy of their relationship. My opinion on Law is, is that he is friends with Luffy but won't admit it. If that kinda makes sense?**

 **Thanks to the followers, favourites and reviews, and to the person who added this to a community.**

 **UmbraAurumDragon Out!**


	13. Chapter 13- Yoru Island Part 2

**(A/N) Uni is over! New chapter, Enjoy!**

 **I hope you all had a great Halloween! Or just day if you don't celebrate it.**

 **Uni Fact: The amount of Ascaris eggs (a type of parasitic worm) produced inside all humans in one day, if put together in one pile, would be bigger than Mt Everest! O.o ew.**

 **Thank you to followers, favourites and reviewers.**

 **Disclaimer: I have no rights to the One Piece Story, I am not Oda.**

* * *

 **What happened last chapter: Sakatori (Aka bird) went home. Sanji got mad at Zoro for being alone with Nami (even though it was an accident). Ace, Luffy and Law landed on a desert like island, took a trip on a desert ship and got caught in toxic rain. Chapter ended with Luffy holding Ace and Yume inside a cabin whilst he's outside.**

 **(Let me know if you want me to do a "previously" every chapter)**

* * *

 **Candle Heart**

 **Chapter 13- Yoru Island Part 2**

Ace banged on the door of the cabin till his hands bled, Yume had curled into a ball and was crying in the corner. Ace hadn't heard a sound in an hour except for the pouring rain, which taunted him. How could he of let this happen, he promised Sabo he'd look after Luffy. The rain kept on falling through the cracks of the wood, as each one landed it sizzled against the ground, burning a scorch mark into it. Each time a drop hit Ace or Yume they yelped in pain, Ace couldn't believe Luffy was drenched in this, he didn't want to believe it.

Suddenly the rain stopped, the ship slid to a stop.

Ace waited what seemed like an eternity, but eventually the haki on the walls and door disappeared, they were free.

He banged the door down and ran out looking around for his little brother, Yume followed closely behind.

They saw the man they were looking for slumped up against the mast.

"Luffy!" Ace ran up to him, he checked his pulse, he was alive. Yume ran back inside and took out a little first aid kit. She began rubbing a balm she found into Luffy's burnt skin. Once she finished a section, Ace grabbed some bandages and wrapped them around him.

He was hurt, bad.

"We need to get him to Trafalgar." Ace said tying up the last bandage. He stood up and finally noticed, they were in a huge cavern, different to the caves below the desert as it was above ground, but it appeared to be connected, as it also had water and crystal walls. He looked outside the cave and his heart leaped into his mouth. The rain was still pouring outside; they were trapped, with no way to get Luffy to a doctor.

* * *

Yume was no doctor, but she couldn't sit down, cry and do nothing. Ace had gone out to explore the cave and to try to find something to help them. He had looked so mortified when he saw Luffy; Yume could tell how close they were and assumed he needed some time alone. In the meantime Yume tended to Luffy's skin trying to keep his skin cool by placing clean wet cloths' on unbandaged areas. He was sleeping soundly, yet every now and then he grimaced in pain. Every time he flinched Yume almost started crying again, he did this so they could be safe, he knew someone had to steer the boat. They were lucky they got to the cave when they did; the water had begun to seep through the wood.

When Yume thought she couldn't do any more, she curled up into a ball next to Luffy. She had never had someone protect her like that before, except her cat. She smiled, glad that she had left Grumpy on the submarine. All she wanted right now more than anything, was for Luffy to be ok, the thought of him not waking up crossed her mind and she shivered at the loneliness she suddenly felt.

No, Luffy was strong, he'd be ok, she had to trust him. She had seen him and Ace fight, and she felt exhilarated by just being near the fight. Terrified, but excited, safe and proud to be on the crew of such a powerful man, she couldn't wait to meet the rest of the crew, Luffy had told her so much about them.

She smiled curling further into a ball next to Luffy, the thought of his smile, comforted her enough for her to sleep.

* * *

Ace had wanted to stay next to Luffy, but he was feeling guilty about what happened. How did Luffy always manage to worry him? It had always been an issue, but it seemed as if Luffy had been making it his personal mission to do so since he'd taken him from Marineford. It conflicted Ace's emotions having Luffy older than him; he was supposed to look after Luffy, not the other way around.

He walked the long corridors trying to find a way out, but the tunnels were never ending, he came across strange creatures from time to time but nothing he couldn't handle. He began to feel tired; maybe everything was catching up to him. For months before this he had been hunting Blackbeard, then he had to endure Impel Down and then watch most of his family die, and with Luffy constantly around him, he hadn't had a second to mourn. He wouldn't cry in front of Luffy, so he had to bottle it up.

He turned a corner and sat down on a relatively dry area against the wall. He couldn't be prouder of his little brother, but sometimes, he needed his quiet alone time. He still didn't feel like his normal self, to do that he needed to move on, but with everything going this proved difficult. Maybe when he saw his pop's grave he would feel better.

His vision began to narrow, he didn't remember when he started to feel so sleepy, he couldn't concentrate, he needed to go check-up on Luffy, he tried to stand but his balance was off and he fell to the ground.

* * *

Luffy squinted one eye open, and then the other. He didn't know where he was, but he could feel Yume leaning against him, and Ace's haki was relatively close by. He stretched; ouch he hurt everywhere, stupid rain he thought to himself. Where did it come from? It wasn't normal rain; it stung like walking through a million rose bushes, on fire, covered in poison. He grunted and looked down at Yume, he shook her awake. She moaned but looked up. The instant she saw Luffy awake she jumped into his arms with a sob.

"You're ok!" She sniffled.

"Shishishishi, of course."

"Your skin even looks like it's gone back to normal."

"Yosh!" Luffy yelled.

"Do you know where we are?"

"Nope," he said popping the 'p'. "Where's Ace?"

"He went out to explore the cavern."

Luffy nodded looking around, this cave was even cooler than the last, the roof was double the height. He stared in awe at the flora and fauna around him. The plants were a vibrant array of colours and smells, lizards lay in the petals of huge flowers waiting for insects to be attracted to the flowers scent. The large red sting rays they had seen earlier were everywhere, cooling in the water or burrowing under the sand. "Whoa!" Luffy said looking around. "Let's go explore!" he added looking over at the tunnels leading off the main cavern.

"But you're still hurt and shouldn't we wait for Ace?"

"Nahhh let's go! We'll meet him on the way. "

Yume didn't look sure but followed Luffy anyways. There were so many tunnels in the cave, all leading off in different directions, the crystal walls lit their way as they trudged through the shallow water. Luffy called out to Ace; surely he couldn't have gone far.

At one point they came across what appeared to be a giant wasp, its mandibles clicked when it came up to them.

"Whhhooooaaa, it's so big it fills up the whole tunnel!" Luffy chuckled.

"It's a giant bug!" Yume squealed grabbing onto Luffy.

"What, you're afraid of bugs?"

"Yes." She said her eyes downcast.

"Shishishishi, it's just a bug." Luffy said as tears of laughter filled his eyes.

"It's a giant bug!"

"Shishishishi."

"Just get rid of it, please..." She whimpered.

"Sanji can make a soup out of bugs."

"Eww gross, they're slimy!"

"We should go bug hunting!"

"Luffy please?"

He laughed but got the wasp to move down a different tunnel.

They continued their search for Ace, looking around corners and down tunnels, but to no avail.

Luffy began to notice Yume was falling behind. "Come on!" He shouted back at her. She was acting weird, maybe she'd eaten a bug by accident, Luffy chuckled to himself. He shrugged it off and continued to walk. Due to the shallow depth of the water, it didn't make him feel weak, in fact as he walked and kicked the water any place it landed on his skin felt soothed and cool. He noticed the footsteps behind him had stopped, he turned around. "What's up Yume?" He asked cocking his head to the side, she didn't look so good.

"I feel sick." She said, holding her stomach. He walked over and picked her up; she snuggled into his chest and was in no time asleep. Luffy looked at her, his eyebrows came together forming a knot of muscles between his brows. He didn't like this, she was too pale. He needed to find Ace and get Law to take a look at her.

He walked for another half hour, he had used up a lot of haki trying to keep Ace and Yume safe earlier, and though most had returned he still couldn't seem to find Ace, he could feel which direction he was in, it was like the connection was fuzzy.

"ACEEE!" He called.

He followed his haki till he turned a corner and found Ace sleeping against the cave wall.

Luffy pouted, of course he'd fallen asleep, no wonder he was so hard to find, stupid narcolepsy. Walking closer to Ace something seemed off.

Something was wrong, he shook Ace, but he didn't wake up.

Luffy yelled into his ear and sprayed water onto his face. There was not even a slight reaction; his face was statue like, not a single muscle twitched no matter what Luffy did.

Luffy began to fret even more, what was going on. He picked up Ace, placed him securely on his shoulders and began to run; he needed to find a way out.

He sprinted through the corridors using his haki to try guide him, unfortunately even after all his years as a pirate, he still was awful with directions, not as bad as Zoro, but close enough to find every tunnel looked the same and thus he went around in circles.

Finally he noticed an opening up ahead and ran in that direction. He made it to the end of the tunnel and groaned, it was another cavern, except this one was slightly different then the last.

* * *

Ace awoke feeling groggy, there was sleep in his eyes so initially his surroundings were blurred. He heard voices, so he sat up, rubbing at his face whilst trying to flatten out his bed hair with his other arm. Where the hell was he, he looked around, he was in a small alcove, Yume was asleep on the bed next to where he had been laying. He stood up and walked through a vine covered entrance, the cavern wasn't too different to the others he'd seen, except the roof was way way way up above him, a huge hole was in its centre, a machine was just underneath it. Directly below the machine and hole, on the only patch of dry ground, was a science lab, metal wires and pipes were leading off everywhere from it. Most up to the ceiling or through walls, but a large portion led towards an elevated section of dark water, in the middle lay a teenage girl engulfed by the water, except for her head which just tipped the surface. Her blonde hair contrasted with the water and was laid out around her moving with the currents.

Ace felt shivers run up his spine; this place was eerie, especially with the only sounds being the dripping of water. He started walking around the shallow pool with the lady inside it. He leaned closer. Her face looked like it had never seen the sun; it was as white as sea foam. He leaned further across the water.

"ACEEEEE!"

Shocked by the sudden outburst Ace had to lean heavily against the pools dark marbled edge to avoid falling in. His little brother still managed to knock him to the ground though.

"Shishishishi, you're finally awake!" He said with a smile sitting cross-legged on top of him.

"Get off!" He grumbled, grumpy he'd gotten shocked but relieved Luffy was ok. "Where are we?" He asked standing up. Luffy shrugged.

"A cave."

"Helpful," Ace smirked. "What happened?"

"You and Yume fell asleep, I found a doctor for you! He's really cool but not as cool as chopper."

"Ah-uh, where is this doctor now?"

Luffy answered by pointing up. Ace didn't notice at first but amidst all the pipes on the ceiling there was a scaffold running along the sides of the wall, on one of said scaffolds stood a man wearing a white lab coat. He had light blonde hair styled into two spikes atop his head.

"Hey Dr Guy! Ace is awake!"

"It's Dr Bubo," he corrected him with a sigh as he came down towards him. "You have healed amazingly quickly Ace. Anyone else with that amount of toxin in their system wouldn't last half as long."

On closer inspection Ace could see the man was wearing large round spectacles that doubled the size of his eyes and his nose was large and curved down, he did remind Ace of an owl.

"Will the kid be ok?" Ace asked.

"She had much less toxin in her system then you did, and it circled slower because of her lack of movement. She should be fine. What amazes me is your brothers' recovery; he didn't even need the anti-toxin."

Ace looked over at Luffy who was now sitting cross-legged on the ground.

"Luffy how is that possible?"

"Probably from my fight with Magellan."

Ace lowered his gaze, his heart felt like it leapt up into his throat as he realized what that probably meant.

He gulped shaking that thought from his mind. "Who's the girl?" He asked looking at the pool.

"That's my sister Nian, she contracted a disease a year back and her health has been deteriorating ever since."

"Why she in a pool?" Luffy asked, tilting his head.

"The water is laced with a refined version of the medicine from the sting rays tails." The doctor answered.

"Will that fix her?" Luffy asked.

"I've been trying to alter the composition of her medicine, but nothing seems to work." The man began to shed tears; they got caught behind his glasses and he had to take them off and clean them.

Ace thought he looked weird without glasses, but he didn't say anything, Luffy however….

"You look weird without glasses."

The man sniffled and returned them. "Guess it's a good thing I can't see without them."

"Why don't you take your sister to another doctor?" Ace asked, changing the subject.

"The disease is contagious, I can't even touch her." The man began to cry again.

"You sure do cry a lot." Luffy said.

"My sister is dying!" He whimpered.

"I guess that's an ok reason to be a cry baby."

"I think I remember you crying a lot when I was dying Luffy." Ace teased.

Luffy scrunched up his face. "That was different!" He whined.

"No it wasn't." Ace laughed. Luffy grumbled but looked back towards the owl man.

"Hey you saved Ace and Yume, we'll get Tra-Guy to save your sister!"

"Luffy I don't think Trafalgar will agr-" Ace began.

"Sure he will, let's go get him!" Luffy interrupted.

"No! You can't leave, not right now! Actually you should hide! Go back to the alcove!" Bubo blubbered.

"Why?" Ace and Luffy asked in unison.

"They'll be here soon, it's not safe!" He said looking side to side, sweat beginning to form on his forehead.

Geez this guy was a wimp, Ace thought to himself.

"Shishishishi of course it's safe, we're pirates."

"Pirates..."

"You don't get out much do you Dr Owl guy?" Ace teased.

"Owl...?"

"Who are you afraid of?" Ace asked.

"C-Cyto! He and his gang found out I was harvesting the sting rays, and refining the liquid in their tails to medicine. He's been making me refine the toxins for months for him to sell."

"Refine?" Ace asked.

"Yes I can make them more deadly, just like how I make the liquid from the males tails more medicinal."

"Luffy come on let's go."

"Ace I said I'd help him."

"Luffy." Ace began to try reason with him but one look at Luffy Ace could tell that he wasn't going to budge.

"Fine we beat up the bandits and go."

"Shishishishi and get Tra-Guy."

Ace glared at Luffy but gave in.

"Let's go then." He sighed.

Luffy ran off and Ace followed close behind, but not before he looked back at the Dr, something wasn't right. Part of him was slightly excited to go though, the last time Luffy and he had fought together had been Marineford, this was going to be fun.

* * *

After wondering the tunnels Ace struck up a conversation. "So last time we talked you had a swordsman, a navigator, a liar, a chef, a reindeer, a big duck and a princess on your crew, I believe you got some new members from what I saw in the papers, did you finally get your musician?"

"Yep! He's a skeleton named Brook; we also got a shipwright named Franky, an archaeologist named Robin and a fishman!"

"A fishman hey? I had a friend who was a fishman"

"Oh yeah! You know Jimbei don't you?"

"Jimbei!" Ace exclaimed gobsmacked.

"Yosh!"

"He joined your crew?"

"Yep!"

"Hahahaha he really took my request to heart." Ace laughed.

"Yeah he's super cool!"

The two of them suddenly came across the bandit's hideout. The man they assumed was Cyto was a seven foot tall man with black slicked back slimy hair; he was crazily thin but moved fluidly. He lay on his back on a large rock, up so high in the air, no reflective light from the crystal walls reached him, thus he was covered in shadows. His lackeys were moving large crates around the base filled with vials of an ice blue liquid.

Ace and Luffy walked in together, they looked around inspecting the cavern intrigued.

"Who are you?" The bandit leader said smoothly, his eyes were looking at them with harsh curiosity.

"So when we finally reunite with your crew Jimbei will be there? It'll be great to see him again." Ace asked, completely ignoring the question.

"Yosh! He'll be so surprised to see you." Luffy chuckled.

The bandit leader hissed to get their attention.

"Hey your Byto right?" Luffy asked.

"Cyto." The man corrected passive aggressively, his pupils dilating.

"Ace this is the guy we're beating up right?"

"Yeah Luffy."

"What?" The man asked.

"We're going to kick your arse." Luffy said with a grin.

A couple of the men ran up to them with swords after hearing this, Ace jumped and Luffy whipped out his leg knocking them over. More circled around them, another one jumped at them and received a fire fist to the face for his efforts. One attacked Luffy and hit the ground from being hit from one of Luffy's own punches.

Ace and Luffy stood back to back, Ace would occasionally give Luffy a boost before ducking while he used his Gatlin gun, other times Luffy would punch through Ace and hit an attacker. It had been many years since Luffy had fought beside Ace, but it felt like no time had passed at all. They worked in perfect unison using each other's abilities in combination with their own. It was fun and Luffy could feel the excitement and adrenaline pumping through him. Soon the number of attackers weaned and the remaining bandits became weary. Neither Ace nor Luffy had even built up a sweat; the attackers were stronger than the average man, but useless against the pirates. They brought out pistols that proved especially useless, and at that thought the last few men standing ran off in fear.

The leader slowly rose from his rock, his anger filled eyes almost glowed in the consuming shadows. Each step he made was purposeful and slow, he almost looked graceful. Luffy cocked his head looking at the man, he reminded him of something. He scratched his head thinking. In the meantime the man finally made it to the ground, he moved as if he had to reserve as much energy as possible. He walked towards the two brothers, insanity present in his face. His long dark cloak embellished with red patterns slid along behind him.

"Ace, he looks mad." Luffy stated with a chuckle.

"No kidding." Ace replied with a smirk.

"Come and get me." The man smirked.

Luffy unlike Ace didn't hesitate and ran straight towards the creepy man.

"Luffy wait!" Ace tried to warn him, but he was too late.

Luffy had fallen through the floor and into an abyss below, Ace was about to worry, when he heard his brothers laugh.

"Shishishishi Ace! I'm on a sticky net!"

"You baka! Haven't you learnt yet not to rush into battles?"

"Hey you do it too! I just did it first this time."

Ace sighed and looked up, but the man was gone. He looked back into the abyss and saw a hundred red eyes staring back at him.

He'd seen a lot of weird things, but this easily made the top ten.

The creature staring at him was a crazy mix of spider and human, and not just any spider a ginormous red backed spider. Its pincers clicked and grinded together and poison dribbled out of its disgusting mouth.

The black creature ignored him and began to crawl towards Luffy, who was still playing in what Ace now realized to be web.

"Luffy! That spider is coming towards you!" He warned.

Luffy looked up and saw the creature."

"Whoa! So cool!"

Ace chuckled his little brother would never change. He took a breath and jumped into the shadowy abyss.

* * *

 **(A/N) Hope you enjoyed! I had a little trouble keeping in character this chapter so if they're a little OOC I'm sorry. On the plus side the next chapter should be much more interesting!**

 **Now officially past 100 follows and 10 000 views, so the story will definitely be finished.**

 **Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed.**

 **Also was wondering if anyone would want to be my official/ unofficial beta reader? You'd get to read chapters early, and help me decide what's going to happen later. Preferably looking for someone who is or has done/doing really well in English in school or university/college, but I'm not fussy.**

 **Guest reviews- and a couple others (rest via pm)**

 **Wow: Sorry but cliff hangers are just the perfect place to finish! Hope this chapter appeases you a little. Haven't decided yet if I'm going to have the bird come back.**

 **KeenYeah: Yes Law is being nice for once! He'll be in the next chapter again by the way.**

 **AceAyane: There is one slight problem with that idea though (I was considering doing something similar) It would change the past/ cannon. And I'm trying my utmost to keep to cannon.**

 **Fallen-Music: THANKYOU! In answer to your question, I've been a bit hesitant to put Marco in, seeing as what's happening with the cannon (Whitebeard's 'supposed' son going after the old Whitebeard crew) BUT I'm planning on having him in the next chapter anyway!**

 **Thanks everyone!**

 **Tata**

 **UmbraAurumDragon Out!**


	14. Chapter 14- Yoru Island Part 3

**(A/N) New chapter!**

 **Do you guys like the new cover photo!? It's not exactly how I imagined Sakatori, but it's pretty close, I couldn't get my black pencil to get to a dark enough shade though. If you want me to draw a picture for your story I'll be happy to!**

 **This chapter was Beta'd by Aliahra, she is super nice and she has a story called "The Dream" and it is SO AWESOME! Check it out!**

 **Uni fact: Dogs are one of the only species apart from humans to look specifically at the right side of your face because it shows more emotion then the left. Talk about man's best friend!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.**

* * *

 **Previously: Luffy woke up! But Ace and Yume fell asleep. They woke up in a cavern with a guy that looks like an owl! They found an enemy spider guy and were about to start a fight.**

* * *

 **Candle Heart**

 **Chapter 14- Yoru Island Part 3 and an Unexpected Surprise**

Why did he always have to clean up Straw Hat- Ya's mess? Law Grumbled to himself from the deck of the Polar Tang. Luffy always had to cause some sort of trouble for him, it was almost as if he was a magnet for trouble. Not only had he not come back within the allocated time Law had allowed for him, but he had also managed to get caught in toxic rain, the baka.

Law had tried to get to Straw Hat- ya before the rain had hit but by the time he arrived to the place that rented out the sand ships, it was already too late. So he had gone back to his own ship and decided to wait out the rain under the sea. However whilst under the water he noticed something, the rain only went just past the side of the island, before suddenly stopping. They had surfaced the submarine and were now sailing around the perimeter of the island. It was a relatively round island excluding a small protrusion from the west side.

They had noticed on their trip around the island that the rain did not encompass the whole circumference of the island; the north shore was hardly rained upon, whilst on the other side to the south the rain went about a kilometre out to sea.

"The rain is coming from somewhere." Law said leaning on the railing as he gazed out onto the dark island.

"So what do we do?" Bepo asked his captain.

"Trusting Straw Hat- Ya he will be at the very centre of it, so as soon as the rain stops, that's where we will go."

"Judging from the circumference of the rain the centre of the rain storm should be just slightly to the south." Bepo said.

"Let's go back to the east harbour; we'll wait there till the rain lets up."

"Yes captain."

* * *

Ace landed on the giant spiders back, he clung to it as it fell down toward Luffy.

"Ace I want to ride it too!"

Ace rolled his eye and jumped onto a ledge on the side of the abyss, he needed to free Luffy from the web.

"Firefist!" He yelled out as he punched his flaming fist into the web. Luffy looked over and blinked.

"That sucked." Luffy said looking at the undamaged web.

"I don't see you trying to find a way out." Ace countered

"Shishishishi."

The spider then jumped towards Ace, he was about to jump up and out of the abyss when he noticed that a web was now covering the way out. The spider must have done it while he was trying to get Luffy out.

He jumped to another ledge on the other side of the hole and lifted his fists to engage the spider. It shot clumps of web at him, he dodged and ran across the wall and kicked the spider in the face. It landed on the web and crawled back up towards him. The creature had haki.

"Oi Luffy! I'll deal with the bug; you find a way to free yourself!"

"Spispispispispi," Cyto laughed. "My web is indestructible; once my prey is caught they can never get out."

Ace shot fire at the man to shut him up and distract him from Luffy.

* * *

"Ace gets to have all the fun." Luffy grumbled under his breath as he tried to struggle his way out. Nothing was working, he hated this stupid sticky stuff, not even Ace's fire could burn it. He looked down into the abyss, there was a ledge sticking out that he could grab onto. He stretched out the only part of his arm that wasn't stuck and grabbed onto the ledge. He then began to retract his arm and pull. The web stretched and went down with him. He eventually got to the ledge and looked up, Ace and that spider were fighting, and although Ace was stronger, they were fighting in the spider's element and the more webs the spider shot out, the fewer places there were for Ace to stand.

Most of the walls of the abyss were now sticky with the web and almost all of the ledges were covered in it. Luffy had to get free and fast. An idea suddenly came to mind, he smirked and aimed himself towards the spider.

"Ace! Watch out!" He yelled before letting go of the ledge, the web was like his own rubber body and acted like a sling shot, he flew towards the spider and hit him. But now he was in an even worse predicament. Not only was he still attached to the original web, he was stuck to the spider and the web roof of the giant hole.

Ace found it hilarious; he had jumped onto a ledge and was laughing his head off. The spider however was not so impressed. It began to snip away at the web cutting itself free, but leaving Luffy in the exact same situation. Once it was free, it went after Ace again. Luffy wiggled trying to free himself again, but to no avail. He then noticed a familiar haki presence coming towards him.

"Yume!" He exclaimed looking up at her.

"Hey Luffy!" She smiled looking down at him from the side of the abyss. "You've gotten yourself in a bit of a tangle." She giggled.

"Shishishishi, I'll get myself out soon."

"Here I'll help."

"Do you have some really big scissors?"

"No, I made a friend on the way here." She smiled.

From behind her a giant wasp came into view.

"WHOA! You became friends with the bug!"

"I know! He's actually really friendly!"

"Shishishishi, that's great Yume."

She beckoned the insect over, it began using its giant mandibles to cut the web and in no time, Luffy was free. He didn't hesitate in jumping in and helping Ace, he landed on the creatures back just like Ace did earlier.

Ace jumped out of the abyss onto solid ground, the creature followed with Luffy on his back. The ball was now in their court as the spider didn't have its massive web around it. Luffy went into second gear, attacking the creature with his fists and legs. Ace shot fire into its face, and the giant wasp, as the spider's natural enemy joined the fray as well. Within no time at all Luffy landed a final blow that knocked the spider man out.

Ace cleared his hands of dirt by clapping them in a sideways motion and smiled at Luffy who returned the grin tenfold. They tied Cyto up and jumped onto the back of the giant wasp.

"That was fun." Luffy chuckled from behind Yume.

"Hahahaha excluding the part where you were stuck you mean?" Ace teased from the back of the wasp.

Yume giggled as the wasp turned the last corner into the cavern with the owl guy.

Upon seeing them atop a giant wasp, with a knocked out giant spider behind them, the Dr's jaw dropped.

"We beat him up!" Luffy yelled out.

"Oh that is wonderful!" Dr Bubo exclaimed.

The three of them jumped down from the wasp's back. The wasp dropped the spider guy and scuttled off down the tunnel. Ace started wondering around the cavern and Luffy ran towards the doctor. "Now we just need to get Tra-Guy to fix up your sister!"

"Not him…" Yume whined.

"Shishishishi, and he's already close by too!"

"Oh goodie." She said sarcastically.

* * *

Ace was walking up the scaffold, investigating all the wires and machinery, something wasn't quite right. He had suspected it for hours but he had no proof of it, Luffy was generally a very poor judge of character and instantly befriended anyone who helped him. Ace however, was just slightly more suspicious. He came to the machine sitting just below the large hole in the cavern roof; he walked around it investigating it. He had a theory, and just needed to prove it.

"Young man!" The owl guy called from below. "Would you please come down from there, my work is very delicate."  
Ace saw a large tube leading down from the machine. On closer inspection he noticed a bright blue liquid coming down from it. The tube next to it had a clearer liquid running down into the pool below where the girl, Nian lay.

He saw a lever off to the side, he smirked, his inner rebel could never really resist a mystery.

"DON'T!" The doctor yelled.

He pulled the lever down. The instant he did black smog rose from the top of the machine and out the hole in the ceiling. The two liquids began to flow down the tubes. He reached up his hand into the dark smoke. Intense pain suddenly radiated through that arm. It was a familiar pain. The same pain that he had experienced only a few hours ago, in the toxic rain.

"Luffy!" He called out. "This guy is the one who made the toxic rain!"

Luffy looked at the doctor and tilted his head.

The doctor sighed, but then began to laugh. "The waste from the toxin and the medicine needed to go somewhere. I'm afraid it had nowhere to go but up."

"You hired that spider guy!" Yume squeaked.

"I had to get money from somewhere didn't I?"

Luffy frowned. "That rain hurt Ace and Yume, and all the villagers who gave us meat!"

"Surely you understand pirate! Some things are worth it! I started refining the medicine only a few months ago! The results are amazing!"

Luffy lowered his straw hat to cover his eyes, and without another word he slammed a fist into the older man's face, knocking him back. The doctor wiped blood from his mouth and got up. He stretched out his arms, as he did so they turned into huge wings, his hooked nose hardened and transformed into a beak, his legs grew and became yellow and scaly his toenails curved into talons, finally feathers began to grow all over his large body. He had turned into and eight foot horned owl. He screeched and launched himself into the air. He circled the room before turning at Luffy and headed in a beeline towards him. His sharp talons were stretched out in front of him. Luffy prepped himself and jumped over the owl. He twisted in mid-air and hit him from behind.

Ace jumped down and joined the fray; he shot red hot flames from his pointer fingers straight at the owl. The owl dodged them and attempted to rake its claws along Ace's side. Ace used haki to stop him. He bent down and Luffy jumped over him and used his leg to whip the owl in the face. The owl hooted and flew around the room. He started destroying the crystal walls.

"What's he doing?" Luffy asked.

"He's getting rid of the light!" Yume exclaimed.

Ace and Luffy looked around and noticed she was right. Every time the owl destroyed a crystal, the room got darker. Eventually it got to the point where none of them could see anything.

"No problem!" Luffy exclaimed running off.

"Luffy wait!" Ace sighed running after them.

They began to fight with the owl doctor again; this time in complete darkness. They scuffled, hit, dodged, stretched and shot fire. Until suddenly, the owl's haki disappeared.

"Where'd he go?" Ace said looking around.

"He got Yume!" Luffy yelled running towards an opening to a tunnel. Ace ran after him, glad now that there was light. They followed the haki and turned a corner to see….

* * *

Yume was not happy, Luffy and Ace had left her all alone in the dark, and the bird had snatched her. He had flown through the tunnels until he came to a more open one where he stopped and pinned her to the ground. She was terrified, what was she going to do. The owl bent down and his beak opened up to rip her tiny body to shreds. She whimpered in fear, but steeled herself; she had one trick up her sleeve. She clenched her fists. A giant panther suddenly turned the corner. Its pearly white teeth were epically sharp and its claws even more so. Its low growl sent shivers down even her own spine. The owl screeched and began to back away from the giant nightmare creature. Yume didn't move she hardly even breathed; she put all of her concentration on making the giant panther look as realistic as possible. This had to work, she knew the one thing all birds were afraid of was big cats, and this one she knew quite well, from her first few days with Luffy.

Because of her training with him at that time, she had gotten good enough with her devil fruit to be able to be touched by animals and Zoan Devil Fruit eaters in their animal forms, whilst making visions; however she still couldn't make a sound, be touched by a human or move.

The owl backed into a corner. She made the large black panther follow him whilst making a low deep growling noise. She was just beginning to think that the owl would see through her vision because it wasn't attacking him. When Luffy and Ace burst around the corner at top speed.

Ace stopped and stared at the giant cat for a second, but Luffy unfazed by her vision jumped towards the owl and landed the final blow. He was knocked to the ground, unconscious.

* * *

"You ok?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah, just a bit shaken." She replied.

Ace shook his head as the panther disappeared, his eyes were wide.

"That was awesome!" He exclaimed.

Yume blushed and looked away.

"Yosh! Let's go back!"

"What?" Both Yume and Ace asked.

"I said I'd get Law to help his sister, so I will."

"That giant owl tried to kill us!" Yume almost screamed.

"Yeah, but his sister didn't. Let's go! Tra-Guy is almost there!"

* * *

Law was not impressed. When he walked around the corner into a dark cave to see Luffy, Ace and the little girl. They were huddled around Firefist as he was producing fire that lit up the area around him.

"Are you always an idiot, or is it just when I'm around?" He asked walking into the room.

"Tra-Guy! Can you do me a favour?"

Law's eye began to twitch. "What is it this time?"

"There is a girl in that pool over there; she's sick can you fix her? Oh and Ace's hand needs fixing too."

Law accepted his fate and said. "Fine."

He attended to Firefist first before going over to the girl. He checked her over, and had no trouble using his devil fruit to heal her.

"I'm done, can we go now?"

"Will she wake up soon?"

"Yes."

"Then let's go!"

* * *

Dr Bubo awoke in the shallow puddles of his workshop, there was little light but that didn't matter as he could see in the dark. He looked around and saw Cyto lying unconscious and tied up in a corner.

He stood up and walked over to his sister. All he wanted was for her to wake up, nothing else mattered. No one else's life was more important than hers; she was so young and pure. He had started out with good intentions, but looking down at her statuesque face he realised, at some point he had lost his way. It probably started with the Sting Ray experiments and had escalated to the toxic rain. He had only wanted those boy's to go away, but after they had found out about the toxic rain he had to get rid of them. Now they would tell others, and he would never get the opportunity to find a cure. He fell to his knees at the side of the pool and wept.

"Bubo?"

Now he was hearing things.

"Bubo, is that you?"

"Nian?"

He stood up and looked into the water, his little sister was now awake and sitting up.

"Bubo where are we?" She asked.

That young boy must have kept his promise; his friend must have healed her. He jumped into the shallow pool and kneeled at her side. He pulled her into his chest and wept.

"Nian, I have made a huge mistake, I hurt so many people to heal you."

"Big brother…." She said tears beginning to form in her own eyes.

"I'm sorry!" He blubbered.

She looked upset and disappointed but she returned his hug and said.

"It'll all be ok. Tell me everything."

* * *

"Captain! You got Straw Hat back!" The white polar bear exclaimed.

"Yeah." Law replied walking onto the deck.

Ace couldn't help but over hear him mumble under his breath.

"That stupid Straw Hat- Ya doesn't even know the meaning of the word fear; the baka doesn't know the meaning of a lot of words."

Ace chuckled at the pirate, he couldn't quite figure out if Law considered Luffy a friend or whether he just hated him.

Within no time at all they were again headed towards his grave. After a discussion with polar bear, he had discovered they should be there within a few days.

* * *

"Ace come on! We're almost there!" Luffy said running up the hill.

Ace however didn't have that much enthusiasm. He didn't really know what he would find at the top of the hill, and he wasn't sure he wanted to find out.

They reached the top and Ace felt a little part of him die inside. He looked out across the land and saw the amount of graves, he couldn't believe it, it wasn't real. How many people in his family had died trying to save him?

"Hey Luffy."

"Yeah?"

"Can you give me a minute?"

Luffy nodded and walked back down the shore.

He was now alone.

He wandered all the graves; he recognised each of the swords sticking up out of the ground. He said the name of each owner as he passed. He lapped back around and saw his own grave, he leant forward and grabbed his dagger and hat. They were slightly worn, but appeared someone had been taking good care of them. He placed his hat on his head and dagger at his side. He then approached Whitebeard's grave. His father was gone. He had been gone for years now. He gulped trying to hold back tears, but to no avail they fell onto the cold stone of the tombstone. He fell onto his knees and let all the emotion he had been bottling up out. He gulped down air and wiped away his tears.

"You were the best father I could ever have asked for Pops."

He paused for a second to breathe.

"Your soul will forever be eternal, rest in peace."

* * *

Ace had been sitting in a state of numbness for over an hour now. He tilted up his head and noticed the flowers littered around the two graves. He stood up and ran his hands over the words on his and Whitebeard's grave. He then noticed a small box with a bottle of sake and three cups, Luffy must have put them there. A worn newspaper then caught his attention; he picked it up and sat down on top of his grave stone and tried to read the faded writing.

"The Straw Hat's revival hey?" He smirked.

"Wonder who put this on my grave?"

Ace put back the newspaper and wondered around the graves again, saying a final goodbye to his old friends.

* * *

Luffy was getting impatient; he ran back up the hill at Law's protest and looked around. Ace wasn't there. He scratched his head and sat down cross legged in front of his brother's fake grave. He noticed Ace's hat and dagger were gone as well. He decided to sit and wait for Ace to return, after about ten minutes he was beginning to become impatient again when a familiar face began to walk up to him.

"I thought it was you Straw Hat-yoi."

"Pineapple Head!" Luffy exclaimed.

"It's good to see you again, you here to visit Ace- yoi?

"Nope, the old man."

"You're a strange one- yoi."

"Shishishishi."

"Where's Ace's stuff? Did you take it?

"Nope."

"Strange…." He said looking around. He then looked to Luffy and smiled

"I heard you're the new King of the Pirates. Ace would be proud." Marco said changing the topic.

"YOSH! It's pretty cool!"

"What!?" Ace exclaimed from behind Marco. "HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME YOU WERE KING OF THE PIRATES LUFFY?!"

"I forgot." Luffy said with a chuckle.

Marco slowly turned around to look at Ace, his normally sleepy looking eyes were wide, his pupils were huge and his mouth was slacked open.

"Ace?" He asked in a hoarse whisper.

Ace rubbed the back of his head and grinned.

"Long time no see Marco."

* * *

 **(A/N) Hope you enjoyed.**

 **Guest Reviews:**

 **Wow: Glad you liked it!**

 **Guest: Hahaha I'm from Australia, spiders are the everyday norm. Aliahra Beta'd this chapter because I couldn't contact you. I'd like to have you both! Do you have an account I can PM you on? Official Beta readers need to have so many stories up and have an account for a month I think. But you can be an unofficial beta?**

 **I'll give myself a deadline of next Saturday to get the next chapter up! We're getting rather close to the end. I'm thinking 3 or 4 more chapters. Though it would be nice to finish on 20.**

 **Also if you notice any changes on previous chapters, I've been doing a little editing, but nothing I've done should affect the story.**

 **Thank you all!**

 **TATA!**

 **UmbraAurumDragon OUT!**


	15. Chapter 15- Surprise

**(A/N) New Chapter, Enjoy!**

 **Yes, this is super late sorry….. but I have an excuse! My dog got very sick and had to stay at the Vet. Then I got sick.  
I really shouldn't make deadlines for myself, assume from now on updates will be anywhere between three days to two weeks.**

 **I'm going to have to make a few assumptions about the Whitebeard pirates and the Revolutionary army members in this one. As in who is alive and who isn't. (May change slightly as cannon progresses)**

 **This chapter was Beta'd by the wonderful Aliahra again, thank you!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece.**

* * *

 **Previously: The Yoru Island section was wrapped up and Luffy and co left to see Ace's and Whitebeard's grave, only to see a familiar face there.**

* * *

 **Candle Heart**

 **Chapter 15- Surprise**

Marco looked gobsmacked to say the very least. He still hadn't moved and Ace was beginning to worry he had stopped breathing.

Ace was glad to see him, but right now he could only concentrate on one thing. Luffy just happened to forget to mention he became the Pirate King. Ace always knew he could do it, but so soon after he died, it was crazy.

He was almost mirroring Marco's surprise.

"Shishishishishishi."

"What the? Ho-How are you alive- yoi?" Marco stammered

"I saved him." Luffy said with an irritating grin.

"Then where the hell have you been-yoi?"

"Marco, Luffy only saved me the other day."

Marco's eye's narrowed. "What?"

"I can travel through time." Luffy chuckled.

Marco's eyes widened again. "Is this some joke Luffy? Because it's not funny-yoi."

"Nope."

"It's the real me Marco." Ace said with a nervous grin.

Marco took a deep breath and sighed. "I know, I can recognize your haki but still, this is unreal- yoi."

"Tell me about it."

Marco took a few steps forward and raised his arm. Ace gripped it and smiled as they pulled each other into a short embrace and patted each other's backs.

"It hasn't been the same without you Ace- yoi."

"I'm glad to be back." They smirked and looked back at Luffy who had been watching the encounter in silence.

"You really can pull of miracles can't you Pirate King- yoi?"

"Shishishishi."

"He's still the same as ever though. You never know what stupid thing he's going to do next." Ace smirked.

"I have some stories you'll love to hear, but first, everyone will want to see you- yoi."

"The rest of the crew?"

"Yes-yoi."

"Ace let's go!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly standing up, within a second he'd run off down the hill.

Marco turned to go as well, but he stopped when he noticed Ace hadn't moved.

"I'll miss him." Ace said looking up at Whitebeards majestic grave stone.

"We all miss him." Marco replied, gazing up with him. "Come on, at some point you just have to accept it and walk down the hill. Otherwise you'll be here forever- yoi." Marco placed his hand on Ace's shoulder to comfort him.

Ace took one last deep breath and said a final silent goodbye. Once he was done he slowly turned and followed Marco down the hill.

He stopped half way down to remove a rebel tear and just couldn't help but make one last promise.

"I will carry your will for the rest of my life, Pops."

* * *

"Straw Hat! We didn't expect to see you here, visiting Ace?" Haruta, the twelfth division commander said with a smile.

"Shishishishi." Luffy laughed.

The man Luffy recognized as the old fifth division commander, Vista walked up to him and patted his back. "Congratulations on becoming Pirate King, we were all rooting for you."

"It was so cool." Luffy grinned.

"I guess you came here to tell Ace all about it. How long are you staying?" Jozu asked.

"However long Ace needs."

"Aww that's sweet Luffy, but you're going to have to leave at some point your crew will get impatient." Haruta smiled sympathetically.

"Tra-Guy took us here!"

"Trafalgar Law?" Vista asked.

"Yep."

"Why?" Jozu asked.

"My crew are busy doing a favour for me."

"So who'd you come with?" Izo cut in.

"My new crew member and Ace." Luffy chuckled.

The whole crew tilted their heads to the side.

"What do you mean?" Jozu asked.

Luffy answered by pointing up at the top of the hill where Marco and Ace were walking down together.

* * *

To say the Whitebeard crew was surprised would be an understatement. Upon seeing Ace and Marco walk down the hill together, most of them couldn't believe it. There was a mixed range of emotions varying anywhere between anger, betrayal, sadness and some were even so shocked they fainted.

"G-G-G-GHOST!" One of them yelled out running towards the water.

Ace upon hearing this ran down the mountain to them, Marco close behind.

"OOOOOO." He teased.

Marco kicked back his head and laughed as half of the crew scattered in fear. The division commanders and a few other stronger members, were wide eyed and confused, but could tell that Ace was no ghost.

It took a while but after his old crew mates finally recovered from their shock, they all tackled him in a huge pile and he was showered by a feeling he had missed dearly. His family smothered him with joy and happiness, and insisted on having a celebration.

Within no time music was playing and food was being served.

Ace noticed Luffy didn't mind at all, considering he was stuffing his face, granted Ace was sitting right next to him doing the exact same thing. He still couldn't believe Luffy hadn't said anything about being Pirate King, he decided he'd sort it out later, as other things were on his mind.

"So what happened after the war?" Ace asked with his mouth full.

The crew all put on either a guilty or sad expression after hearing Ace's question, but Marco was the one to answer.

"We tried to take on Teach-yoi."

"And?"

"We failed-yoi." Marco answered.

"Rather miserably." Someone added.

Ace clenched his fists and scrunched up his face. "This was all my fault."

"No Ace. We went after him; we were bent on revenge-yoi." Marco said.

"How many died?"

"After that fight and everything that happened with weevil; a lot-yoi."

"We made our own decisions," Jozu began to say. "None among who lived or died had any regrets Ace. "

Ace wasn't convinced, but let it go for the time being."

* * *

"Oi kid," Law looked over to Yume. "Go over to that celebration and tell Straw Hat-ya goodbye for me."

"You're leaving?" She said almost hopeful looking.

"Oh please hold the tears," He said sarcastically. Yume rolled her eyes. "And yes I am, I can only deal with so many crazy pirates, I'll find out what happens with Firefist-ya in the papers."

"We don't even get to say goodbye?" Bepo asked.

"We'll see them again soon Bepo." Law grunted

The white polar bear ran up and gave Yume a hug and sniffled.

Yume smiled and waved as she left the ship, happy she was finally free of the pshyco doctor pirate.

She told Luffy the message, which he didn't react well to, and introduced herself to the Whitebeard pirates and joined the festivities.

* * *

"To Ace! Our very own second division commander, returned even from the dead to come back to us!" A drunken Whitebeard pirate toasted.

A chorus of drunken shouts rang out in response.

Ace and Luffy laughed.

"So Luffy, looks like you need a way to get back to your crew, want a lift-yoi" Marco asked.

"Yosh!" Luffy yelled out.

The celebration was now in full swing. Food and sake were passed around, music was playing, tales from the past few years were told to Ace and Luffy provided interesting entertainment, which involved either chopsticks or stretching.

One after another the pirates fell asleep until it was only Ace and the remaining commanders left.

"So where are we headed-yoi?"

"I'm not sure. We'll have to ask Luffy in the morning." Ace replied.

"I still can't believe you're alive." Haruta smiled looking up at the stars.

"I don't think any of us can-yoi." Marco smiled.

"Pop's would be happy." Jozu stated.

"Luffy said he messaged Pops and let him know I was ok." Ace smirked.

The others all smiled with him and slowly fell asleep together.

* * *

"I'm going to buy some ingredients to make a delicious meal for Nami Swan and Robin Chwan." Sanji was almost skipping around the food stalls. He had left the two girls sun baking with a delicious fruity cocktail and was now going to make them lunch. His crazy captain still hadn't returned and the meeting was going to be this afternoon. He would be worried, but unless Luffy did something absolutely insane he trusted he would be fine.

He was running through the list of ingredients he needed through his head when he saw a beautiful lady from in front of him. Sanji felt his nose start bleeding as he looked at this new eye candy. She had the perfect 3 sizes, purple hair and was wearing fish net stockings. Her bag had broken and she was bending over to pick up all the bananas that had fallen out. Sanji walked up behind her and picked up one of the bananas.

"Excuse me beautiful, may I give my assistance?"

The lady slowly lifted her head, as she did so Sanji slowly felt his insides turn to mush, he felt like his soul was slowly dying and leaving his soul to escape to any hell better than the one he had just put himself into.

He'd made a huge mistake, and he was instantly regretting it. A cold shiver ran down his spine.

"Oh Sanji boy, it's been far too long. I'd love your help!"

Oh no... He hated that voice. What had he done? He squashed the banana in his hand and his curly eyebrow began to twitch.

"THERE IS NOT A CHANCE IN HELL I'M HELPING YOU!"

He ran for the hills, not daring to look back. Not him, anyone but him.

"Oh Sanji boy! Where are you going? I missed you so much!"

The lady began to chase after him. Nope, nope, nope, he was never wearing a dress again never, nope.

Others began to join the chase, all appeared at first glance to be beautiful women. But Sanji knew the ugly truth. These were the members of hell, the Kamabakka Kingdom; and their Queen was at the front of the rapidly growing hoard, Emporio Ivankov, in his confusing female form.

* * *

Robin was sitting back on a chair in the warm sun reading a book Koala had lent her. In the short time they had been there she had already reacquainted herself with all the revolutionary army members she had gotten to know in the two years the crew had been apart.

She looked around at the rest of the crew for the most part of their stay, Zoro had been asleep as per usual, Chopper had been talking to the revolutionary army doctors and had been exchanging medical information, Franky had been doing the same except with mechanics and weaponry, Brook had been writing new songs, Jimbei had been scouting under water around the island for threats, Usopp had been bored out of his brain and Nami had been shopping.

She turned the page in her book and heard a strange noise. It sounded like a man being chased by a hungry pack of lions. She looked up just in time to see Sanji bolt past with an entourage of interesting characters chasing after him. She placed her hand over her mouth and chuckled. It appeared Sanji had finally met up with his old friends too.

Zoro squinted one eye open and smirked, Usopp who had been playing cards with the recently returned Chopper, Jimbei and Franky; fell onto his back in hysterics. It didn't take long for the reindeer and the cyborg to follow suit, even Jimbei chuckled a slightly.

"Yohohohoho, you don't see that every day." Brook laughed.

Sanji ran inside and shut the door. "I think I lost them." He said breathing heavily.

"Oi Iva he's in here!" Zoro yelled.

"Oh Sanji boy! I have the most perfect dress for you to wear!"

Sanji's expression turned from relief to shock and ended up on pure loathing. "STUPID MARIMO!" He said running out the back door.

"Hahahahahahaha."

"I'll get you for this!" He yelled back at them as the purpled haired man ran around the corner.

Zoro smiled and relaxed. "It's so peaceful."

Robin wondered what Sanji would look like in a dress. A picture of him arose to her mind in a bright yellow dress with lace. She chuckled, he'd look so kawaii.

She glanced back down at her book and continued her reading.

* * *

Sanji eventually returned from his chase and was now cooking everyone some lunch. Robin was still reading but was interrupted again when the doors were slammed open.

"Where is he?" A familiar woman demanded waltzing into the room. "Where is my love?"

Sanji's nose started bleeding and Robin could've sworn she could see love hearts in his eyes.

"Boa Chwan!" He yelled out running up to her, he fell to her feet.

"Get out of my way peasant! Where is my Luffy?" She said walking over him as one would an entrance mat.

"Hancock! It's nice to see you again! Nami smiled walking over to her."

Boa gave her a glare that would have sent a Sea King back to the very bottoms of the sea.

"Luffy isn't here yet." Zoro stated from the corner.

"Where is he then?!"

"He went off with Red Haired Shanks and hasn't returned." Chopper said with a frown.

"Yeah his Vivre card even disappeared." Franky said.

Hancock looked like she was about to faint.

"We thought he might be dead." Robin chuckled.

Boa wailed falling to the ground. "Oh my poor darling! I should have never left your side."

"Robin! Shanks said he was SUPER ok." Franky stated."

Hancock brightened up. "Really?"

"Of course he's ok it's Luffy after all." Nami huffed.

"When will he get here?" She asked with big eyes.

"We thought he'd already be here by now. He must've been held up." Jimbei stated.

She returned to her worried wailing state.

"Now calm down Hancock. He's fine." Usopp said.

"I shall stay here till my love returns." She said with conviction.

"Are you coming to the meeting?" Robin asked her. Hancock glared at her, but answered.

"Yes I was invited." She said flicking her hair over her shoulder.

"Till then can I interest you in some lunch?" Sanji asked from his crumpled position on the floor.

"Yes." She answered.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Robin heard someone clear their throat; she looked up from her book to see Koala.

"What do you think Robin?"

"It is an interesting read Koala. Thank you for lending it to me." She said looking at the page number and closing the book.

"That's great! I'm glad you enjoyed it."

Sabo walked up behind her and looked at Robin quizzically. "Hey Robin was that your ship's cook I saw being chased by Iva earlier?"

Robin chuckled. "Yes that would have be him."

"My brother really collected a strange crew didn't he?"

"Indeed he did." She smiled.

"Anyway Robin! Are you ready? The meeting is in a half hour!" Koala said with a smile.

"Yes I am." She said standing up from her chair.

"Excellent! Let's go!" Koala said with a twirl.

"Chopper, Franky, Brook, Usopp I'm going I'll see you in a few hours."

"Bye Robin." They all called out before returning to look at Franky's newest invention.

She followed Sabo and Koala out the door, Hancock had heard the conversation and followed behind her.

* * *

Robin sat next to Koala and Hancock in the meeting room, almost all the revolutionary army members where there. Luffy's father, Dragon stood up the front, Sabo stood next to him. Ivankov and Inazuma stood in the corner. A few other familiar faces were also there, including Bunny Joe, Terry Gilteo, Hack and Raise Max. However there were quite a few new and unknown faces around the room as well. Robin noticed a few were ex slaves from the Celestial Dragon marks on their bodies.

Dragon began making a formal welcome to all that attended and discussed some minor matters, mostly about locations of weapons, slaver's bases, deaths and where they will next meet. His tone got more serious as he brought out a message he had received, he explained it contained not only a list of every spy the government had, it also contained coded information as to where more weapons were being hidden.

A man lifted his hand and volunteered to try decoding the information. Dragon agreed and handed him the letter.

He then went on to address Robin. "What is it the Straw Hat Pirates wished to tell us?"

Robin smiled sweetly. "Firstly we know the location of a new city which is being built by the government. From what we could tell, there is a weapon being built there."

Dragon nodded. "I will get the details of this from you later. Now-"Dragon suddenly tensed up. A few others around the room did so as well. Robin couldn't help but notice it as well, a powerful presence was getting close.

"Hancock," Robin whispered a warning. "You better get out of here."

Within a second she was gone.

Others began to catch on to the fact that something was up. Dragon opened his mouth to say something. Suddenly the roof collapsed, interrupting him. Marines flooded into the room. All hell broke loose. Fights were breaking out everywhere. Sabo's fire was swirling around and Iva's head doubled in size. A marine ran up to Robin with a sword, she smiled and crossed her arms and snapped his head back. She looked at other revolutionaries struggling around her, and crossed her arms again.

"Seis Fleur, Clutch!" Six hands sprouted from each marine and cracked their bodies backwards.

She continued to aid the revolutionaries, until the marines numbers began to dwindle. Eventually the last man was vanquished and the room fell to silence.

"We need to get the wounded to doctors." Dragon stated looking around the room.

A few men ran out to get doctors.

"This is bad." She suddenly heard Sabo say.

"What?" Dragon walked up him.

On the ground lay the man who had volunteered to decode the letter, dead.

"The letter is gone." Sabo said with a sigh.

"Then we have to go get it." Dragon said.

"We'll follow them let's go." Sabo said walking out of the room with Dragon. Everyone still standing followed them to get ready to leave.

Koala stayed behind and looked over to Robin. "Sorry this happened Robin."

"It's quite alright Koala."

"You and the Straw Hats can stay here, we'll deal with this."

"I'm sure Luffy would want us to go help his older brother."

"But what if he arrives while you're helping us?"

"Chopper can stay behind and look after the wounded while waiting for him."

Koala jumped up and down and hugged her. "Thanks Robin, we need all the help we can get."

"I'll go tell the others." She said with a smile.

"I'll meet you at the dock." She said with a twirl and a wave.

* * *

"So where are we headed Luffy?" Ace asked with a smirk.

"An island in the southern section of the East Blue." He replied.

"Alright let's set sail- yoi." Marco shouted out to his crew.

Luffy went up and sat on the whale figurehead at the front of the ship. Ace and Yume joined him after they set off.

"Ready to see your crew again?" Ace asked.

"Yeah I miss them heaps," Luffy chuckled. "They're going to be so surprised when they see you."

"I have no doubt." Ace laughed.

"Shishishishi."

The two brothers and Yume sat side by side watching the horizon in comfortable silence.

* * *

 **(A/N) Hope you enjoyed.**

 **All reviews replied via PM.**

 **Thank you all!**

 **UmbraAurumDragon OUT!**


	16. Chapter 16- Where's my Nakama?

**(A/N) This chapter was Beta'd by the amazing Aliahra again, thank you!**

 **Sorry this took forever….. Laziness mixed with writers block and sickness isn't a good combo. So the chapter may not be my best.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, I am not Oda.**

* * *

 **Previously: Ace was reunited with the Whitebeard pirates, Law ditched, Sanji had a bad day and Robin went to an interesting meeting with the revolutionary army.**

* * *

 **Candle Heart**

 **Chapter 16- Where's my Nakama?**

"You can't leave me here all alone!" Chopper cried.

"I agree with Chopper," Nami said crossing her arms. "Every time we split up it leads to disaster."

"We might be back before Luffy even gets here." Robin said with a smile.

"If he ever gets here!" Usopp yelled out.

"Mmmm," Robin hummed nodding her head. "He might've been eaten."

"Don't say such morbid things Robin." Franky sighed.

"I think it's a good idea to go," Jimbei stated. "Luffy would want us to help his brother."

"Or he would want us not to interfere," Zoro said breaking his silent train of thought. "Luffy might think Sabo would want to handle this on his own."

"I hate to admit it but for once I agree with the Marimo." Sanji said, lighting his cigarette.

"Are you sure you're just not trying to avoid someone?" Usopp chuckled.

Sanji gave Usopp a death glare as he blew out the smoke from his mouth.

Brook interrupted the silent exchange. "Yohohohoho, Luffy has always supported what we have wanted to do in the past. If Robin wants to help her revolutionary friends, I'm sure he'd let her."

Everyone turned to Zoro for the final verdict, with Luffy away he was in charge and would make the final decision. He sighed. "This will be such a pain."

"Are you crazy?" Nami and Usopp yelled out.

"Brook and Jimbei have good points." Zoro said in a casual tone.

"Can't we leave it to a vote?" Usopp whimpered.

"If I die fighting some crazy navy admirals I'm going to come back and haunt you." Nami said pointing a finger at him.

"Peh, at least I wouldn't have to pay back your stupid money."

Nami put her hand on her chest in shock, then her lips curled up in a smile. "You'd have to bury me with the money plus all the interest you owe."

"Like hell," Zoro spat. "You'll be dead so you can't do anything about it."

Jimbei suddenly cut in. "If we are going to go, we have to leave now or we won't catch up."

"Let's go then." Zoro said standing up.

Brook, Robin, Franky and Jimbei followed his lead; however Usopp, Sanji and Nami stayed seated.

"One of us should stay with Chopper," Usopp began to say. "And as the bravest warrior of the sea, it is obvious I am the best choice to look after him."

"I'm not dealing with that cross dresser again." Sanji growled.

"Baka, you'll be too busy fighting to deal with him so let's go." Zoro grumbled at him.

"Humph." Sanji complained.

"I guess if everyone is going I may as well go too. You'd all get lost following Zoro anyway." Nami said standing up.

"Hey!" Zoro exclaimed.

"Alright then Usopp, Chopper. You two are staying behind. Tell Luffy where we've gone if he comes back." Nami said with a wink.

"How will we get to you if he does come back?" Usopp asked.

"Sakatori can hold around five people, just fly to us." Nami smiled.

"How will we know where you guys are?" Chopper asked tilting his head.

"I have a good idea of where they might've gone," Robin answered. "If not we all have vivre cards of one another."

"You think they would go THERE though?" Usopp asked.

"Wouldn't that be a stupid place to lead the Revolutionary Army?" Sanji asked.

"Unless it's a trap." Jimbei said.

"Exactly." Robin smirked.

The whole crew's eyes widened. "You're leading us into a trap?! Couldn't you have told us this before I agreed to go?" Nami asked while glaring at Robin.

"And without Luffy…" Brook sighed.

"We're plenty strong enough to deal with this on our own," Zoro said rolling his eyes. "Now let's go."

The two groups waved goodbye to each other, one went to the docks to meet Koala, the other to the infirmary to heal the injured revolutionaries.

* * *

"Ace! Yume! Look! We're here!" Luffy said jumping up and down, pointing at the island on the horizon.

For the past week, the Whitebeard pirates had been having parties every night and had been telling Ace tales of the past few years he had missed. Ace had fit right back in with his family, and surprisingly Luffy had as well, joining in with all their festivities and jokes.

Yume had joined in and had come out of her shell little by little every day. She had even been given some proper clothes and Luffy's red shirt and sash were washed and given back to him.

Yume ran up and lifted herself up onto the rail. "What's there Luffy?"

"How am I supposed to know? I've never been there."

"But your crewmembers are there, right?" Ace asked joining them.

"I think so." Luffy said.

"I can't wait to see Jimbei again," Ace smiled. "I can tease him about joining my baby brother's crew."

"You can meet Brook, Robin and Franky too!" Luffy said with a chuckle.

"I hope you haven't given them too much trouble Luffy." Ace teased.

"Shishishishi."

The three of them stood there waiting patiently for the ship to reach the dock, two of them more patiently then the third. But Luffy noticed something as he got closer to the island.

"Is the town supposed to look like that?" Yume asked.

"Maybe Luffy has been their already." Ace teased by emphasizing the 'has'.

Luffy's smile disappeared for a second as he looked upon the wasted main town building. Parts of it were burnt and other parts just falling around in disrepair. Not many people were around, and those that were appeared cautious.

"I only sense two of my Nakama there." Luffy said with a tilt of his head.

"Maybe they went to get help?" Yume suggested.

"We'll find out when we get there," Ace said. "I'm sure they're all fine though Luffy."

"Of course they're fine," he said, walking towards the gangplank of the ship. "They're my Nakama."

The ship slowly drifted into the bay and docked at the port. The gangplank lowered and Luffy, Ace and Yume walked down.

"LUFFY!"

"Usopp!" Luffy called out in return.

Usopp ran up to the trio but halted to a stop when he saw Ace. His eyes widened in shock and his hands started trembling.

"Lu-Lu-Luffy you never told me Ace had an identical twin." He said with a nervous chuckle.

"That's because he doesn't." Luffy smiled.

"I'm the real deal Usopp!" Ace said.

Usopp's jaw dropped open, he took a few steps back and from out of nowhere pulled out garlic, beaded pearls, a funny hat, a piece of paper with writing all over it and a silver cross. He branded it towards Ace. "Get back, don't make me use these!" Ace titled his head and smiled. Apparently Usopp thought Ace was undead. "Please don't haunt me!" He whimpered.

Ace smiled catching on. "I have come from the afterlife to complete unfinished business."

"No please don't hurt me! It was the marines that killed you!"

"Have you been looking after my little brother?"

"Oh yes, yes of course."

"Has he caused you any trouble the past four years?"

"Oh no, he's fine." Usopp said with a smile.

"LIAR!" Ace yelled out lighting himself on fire.

Usopp cringed and fell to his knees. "I'm sorry! It's in my nature to lie!"

"Hahahahahahaha," Ace laughed out, unable to hold his ruse any longer. "I bet he hasn't changed much since last time we met?"

"No," Usopp whined. "In fact only a short while ago. WAIT WHAT?"

"He's alive!" Luffy yelled out.

"THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"

"SURPRISE!" Luffy said with a huge smile.

Usopp's eye twitched. "Is this the thing you were doing with Shanks? Going to the afterlife?" Usopp asked.

"Nope, just back in time." Luffy chuckled.

Usopp's jaw slacked open.

"My apologies for freaking you out. Just couldn't resist you know."Ace said, placing a hand on Usopp's shoulder.

Ace, Yume and Luffy walked past Usopp and into the town, leaving him to his confusion.

"Imagine how we felt." Marco teased from the top of the gangplank.

Usopp gulped and ran after the two brothers.

* * *

Luffy followed Chopper's haki all the way back to a large building towards the centre of town. He walked in to see a tonne of injured people taking up every corner of the building, doctors and nurses were rushing around helping patients..

"What happened here?" Ace asked. Luffy's mouth dropped, he walked over to Chopper who was listening to a patient's chest.

"Chopper!" He exclaimed.

"Luffy! I'm glad you're alright! We were so worried."

"Why?"

"Your vivre card stopped moving, we were wondering if you were... DEAD!" Chopper exclaimed catching site of Ace behind Luffy.

"Nice to see you again Dr Chopper." Ace said with a smirk.

"You- you- you're supposed to be dead." Chopper stuttered.

Ace, yet again taking advantage of the situation, leaned down and whispered. "Boo."

"AAAAHHHHH!" Chopper screamed hiding behind Luffy in his normal weird manner.

Ace laughed for a while before calming down. "I don't think that'll ever get old." He chuckled.

Chopper tilted his head in confusion. "Are you a ghost?"

"Nope he's alive. SURPRISE!" Luffy yelled out.

"But-but according to what I've heard, you had a punch right through your chest; it would have ruined your lungs and spinal cord. And the magma would have melted everything else. You should've died a very quick painful death." Chopper paused for a second. "Your doctor must have been amazing! I'd like to talk to him about how he healed you."

"Thanks….I needed to know that..." Ace said scratching the back of his head. "And I guess my doctor was Trafalgar Law."

"Really? How? He was looking after Luffy!"

"Shishishishi, I went back in time and saved him." Luffy chuckled.

"Really?" Chopper said his eyes lighting up. "That's so cool!"

"Yeah! It's nice having my big brother back."

"Though he's not necessarily your big brother anymore." Chopper chuckled.

Usopp suddenly ran in. "Usopp!" Chopper exclaimed. "Luffy's back and he brought Ace!"

"I know I met them at the docks, I still can't believe it!"

By now people were beginning to notice the supposedly dead pirate walking and talking; whispers were beginning to float around the room.

Chopper then noticed Yume next to him. "Gah!" Chopper and Yume both exclaimed at the site of one another.

"Luffy! Who's this?" Chopper asked.

"Oh, that's Yume; she's going to be joining us from now on."

She awkwardly waved.

"Luffy! Can't you discuss these things with us beforehand?" Usopp sighed.

Luffy ignored the question and looked down at Chopper. "Hey Chopper what happened here? Where is everyone?"

Choppers mouth dropped. "Oh yeah I forgot! The marines invaded the meeting and stole something. Most of the revolutionaries and the others went to get it back."

"Everyone's ok though?" Luffy said looking ready to beat up anyone that hurt his crew.

"Yeah, Robin was a bit shocked, but apart from that only a few revolutionaries got hurt. She wanted to help them so everyone went with her."

"And you stayed here to tell Luffy when he arrived?" Ace asked.

Chopper and Usopp both nodded in response.

"We should follow them Luffy! Robin thinks it may be a trap!" Chopper said.

"Ok let's go!" Luffy said, looking slightly more serious than usual.

"Wait why are you helping the revolutionaries Luffy?" Ace asked.

"Oh it's because-"

"Firefist Ace!" Someone suddenly exclaimed. "It is him."

The man walked up to Ace wide eyed and jaw slack. "Do you remember me? I sold you food at a bar on the grand line?"

"Ummm sorry sir, my memory isn't as good as it should be." Ace said politely.

"Yeah or you just don't remember because you didn't pay." A girl that looked like the man's daughter called out.

"How are you alive?" A woman called out.

"You should be dead." Another called.

"Luffy I think we should get out of here." Usopp suggested.

"I agree let's go Luffy." Ace said.

The five escaped out the back of the building and returned back to the Whitebeard pirate's ship.

"Hey Ace! Do you want to come with us?" Luffy asked. "It'll be fun."

"I have no doubt." Ace smirked.

"Go where?" Marco asked.

"To get my crew."

"Where are they?" Marco asked looking slightly bored.

"Uhhhhhhhh." Luffy said scratching his head.

"Robin thinks the marines that they were following went to the grand line." Chopper voiced.

"Then let's go!" Luffy yelled.

"If we can't find them we've always got their vivre cards." Usopp said.

"It'll take ages to get to the grand line, and we only just came from there." Marco said sounding annoyed.

"We'll take Sakatori!"

"Saka what?" Marco asked.

"My bird." Luffy said with a chuckle.

Yume clapped her hands together in excitement.

"A bird can't carry my whole ship!" Marco complained.

"Then wait here." Luffy said tilting his head.

"Like hell! We lost Ace to marines once. I'm not letting it happen again." Marco scowled.

"Come on Marco. One little incident and you're treating me like a child." Ace teased.

"You died Ace!" Marco grumbled.

"I won't let it happen ever again." Luffy said intensity building up in his eyes.

"I'm still coming, I'll fly with you. The rest of the crew can stay here." Marco said in a no arguments tone.

"Sounds great! I need a good fight." Ace said rolling his shoulders.

"Yosh!" Luffy yelled out.

However the rest of the Whitebeard crew were not quite on board with the plan. "Marco this is ridiculous," Jozu stated. "We're not just going to wait here twiddling our thumbs while you and Ace go into a potentially deadly battle."

"Don't you trust the Pirate King and me to look after Ace?" Marco asked.

"Of course but-"

"Then there is no reason to argue," Marco said cutting him off. "It would take too long to sail there anyway."

The crew were not impressed but quietened down anyway. Luffy seeing the argument had ended, grabbed the ebony whistle and blew hard on it. Within ten minutes a huge black mass was visible on the horizon. "Sakatori!" Luffy yelled out, stretching out his arms. The bird came closer and closer, its huge majestic wings beating the air like drums. At ten metres away it started flapping backwards and pushed its claws forward. It landed on the ground and waddled over to Luffy. "Shishishishi, long time no see Saka-oof." Luffy grunted as the bird shoved him away and snuggled up to Yume.

Yume giggled as the bird trilled under her petting.

"You sure he's your bird Pirate King?" Marco teased.

"He says he's nobody's pet," Chopper said looking at the bird. "And that he didn't miss the crazy pirates at all. Only the cute girl."

Luffy pouted.

"He also wants to know where the pretty girl with orange hair is."

"We're going to go to Nami now." Luffy chuckled. The bird trilled in response.

"Come on Luffy let's go." Ace said climbing onto the bird's back. Luffy stretched out his arms and jumped on before helping Usopp and Chopper up. The bird leaned down his head between Yume legs and lifted her up. She giggled as she slid down the bird's neck and into Luffy's arms.

"Let's go!" Luffy yelled out.

"Sakatori also says that he didn't miss your loudness at all." Chopper said from behind Luffy.

Luffy chuckled as the bird stretched out his wings and launched into the air. Followed closely by a recently transformed blue phoenix.

* * *

The ten warships flowed across the water; Dragon's ship was at the front of the armada whilst the Sunny was lagging behind at the back. The reason the Sunny was dragging behind was rather simple; Sanji did not want to be anywhere near the front, where Iva was. He had tried multiple times to board the Sunny, but Sanji had always used a coup de burst just in the nick of time to avoid the purple afro monster.

Robin had gone to the head ship to talk with Dragon about their destination, so Sanji only had to wait on Nami. Whilst trying to ignore Zoro weightlifting and Franky banging away below deck. Jimbei had also gone to many of the other ships to talk with their inhabitants; which had left Sanji alone to steer the ship with only Brook and his music to comfort his banging headache.

* * *

The trip hadn't been too bad for Robin, she enjoyed any excuse to talk with her friends from the revolutionary army. She just hoped that Hancock had gotten away before the marines had seen her. She stood next to Koala and Sabo at the front of the ship discussing different odds and ends. Sabo of course wanted to know everything Luffy had done since he had last seen him.

At one point Robin saw what had looked like a giant purple puff ball launch itself at the Sunny. However each time it happened the purple mass of doom was thwarted by Franky's coup de burst. She had to admit she was slightly enjoying Sanji's plight.

Apart from that quite a substantial amount of time passed uneventfully. Robin found it to be too quiet on Dragon's ship. She had become so used to her captain and crew's loud ways.

As she looked to the horizon her thoughts turned morbid, they were heading in the exact direction she thought they would. She knew many of the men on the ships with her would die when they arrived.

As if summoned by these thoughts, a man at the top of the mast yelled out. Robin looked out across the foggy water and saw three gleaming gold pillars rise out of the smog. The closer they got to the island the clearer they could see. The city was a shining. Its buildings gleamed with gold and silver, tall pillars inlaid with jewels were holding up rooves and roads. The city had a giant ebony wall and a large beach leading to a huge dock where an armada of navy warships awaited them.

* * *

 **(A/N) Hope you enjoyed.**

 **Guest Reviews: (Rest via PM)**

 **Wow: Hey thanks for the review, I missed you last chapter, hahaha. Yes! I can't wait for them to return! Yes poor Sanji, he's so fun to torment. No Luffy didn't tell Sabo, don't worry I get some fics confused too. I don't mind, I'm just as scatterbrained! Glad you enjoyed, it's getting close to the end now!**

 **Thank you all!**

 **UmbraAurumDragon OUT!**


	17. Chapter 17- Goodbye Brother

**(A/N) This chapter was Beta'd by the spectacular Aliahra again, thank you!**

 **Also I normally update my progress of the next chapter on my profile. I normally update it every 200 words I write, and I put up the date and time it'll be up when I get close to the end; if anyone is interested.**

 **Also I'm getting a new Golden Labrador! Anyone have any name suggestions for her?**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, I am not Oda.**

* * *

 **Previously: Luffy finally arrived at the meeting point to see only Chopper and Usopp were there. The three of them plus Yume, Ace and Marco left to go help the rest of the Straw Hat crew, who didn't quite realise what they had gotten themselves into.**

* * *

 **Candle Heart**

 **Chapter 17- Impending Doom/ Goodbye Brother**

Robin could hardly believe her eyes; the army that awaited them was nothing short of terrifying. The city behind the navy only added to her fear; it was grand and beautiful, like a place where kings or gods should live. Yet it had a terrifying aurora that gave her the impression that this place was evil. She had read about its construction in the letter left behind with the One Piece. Out of all the information on it, the city's construction was something she deemed worthy of telling the revolutionary army about. She had suspected a trap and had told Dragon so, but she had not suspected what was about to occur.

The men aboard the boats were silent with shock; the city was unlike anything they had ever seen. The stillness was interrupted by a rumbling beneath the boats; it shook the sea and caused the waves to pound against the hulls. Between the three tall golden pillars on the island arose a giant metal object. The men's eyes followed its slow rise high into the sky; it confused the men of the revolutionary army for a second before Dragon called out.

"It's a weapon! Split up and get to land! Find the ship with the information we need!"

The rumbling was now reverberating in Robin's chest. She crossed her arms and allowed for wings to bloom from her back. She flew back to the Sunny to warn the others. She was almost there when a seam formed in the centre of the giant metal object, just above a platform where men were swarming around. She watched in horror as the top slowly section slowly folded down. Her eyes widened as she realised she was looking down the barrel of a huge golden cannon.

She saw light build up at the back of the barrel, she moved as fast as she could. But the shock wave of the cannon hitting a nearby ship knocked her out and she fell into the murky water below.

* * *

"Robin!" Jimbei called jumping into the water. Within seconds he reached her and managed to drag her aboard the Sunny.

"Take her to the infirmary!" Zoro yelled from atop the mast. "We'll use a coup de burst a few times around the area so they can't take aim at us and hopefully it'll confuse them so they can't hit any of the other ships."

"On it!" Franky yelled out running below deck.

"Nami! Can you give us and the other ships some cloud cover when we get closer to the beach?"

"Sure thing Zoro!" She said, taking out her Clima- Tact.

"Love Cook! Steer us toward the shore! Brook and I will cover the ship from attacks."

"All right!" He called out spinning the wheel away from a sinking warship.

"Jimbei! Can you help the crews of the sinking ships?" Zoro asked when Jimbei returned from below deck.

Jimbei nodded and jumped overboard.

The cannon fired again, its ammo acted like a miniature bomb when it collided with the water. Any ships nearby either had half their hull breached or was tilted and pushed back from the shock wave. One revolutionary ship was down and another was badly damaged. The cannon moved to aim at Dragon's lead ship, as it built up energy it made a loud whirring noise, it was about to fire when the Sunny shot across its path.

It took Zoro's and Brook's combined force to try and stop the bomb like ammunition from destroying the Sunny. It wasn't like any ordinary cannon ball that Zoro could simply cut through it wasn't solid and resembled a laser more than a cannon ball. Consequently the two pirates were pushed back by the shock wave. Though they had accomplished their goal, the cannon was now solely focused on the Sunny rather than the revolutionary army. Thus they could now make their way to shore and attack the ships at the dock.

"Nami, now would be a good time for that cloud cover!"

Nami twirled her staff as lots of little clouds exited the end, and formed together in the sky to make one giant dark storm cloud. The men manning the cannon above, on the platform, instead of powering down fired randomly into the sea attempting to hit anything. But the cloud had done the job; the men manning the cannon far above couldn't see anything below the dark clouds. The Sunny made it to the shore.

"If they fire now they'll hit their own men." Franky said lowering the anchor.

"I wouldn't count on that to stop them. Let's get what we need and go." Nami said.

"Brook, can you stay here and look after Robin and the Sunny?" Zoro asked.

"Of course." The skeleton said taking out his sword.

"I'll stay near the water; I'll do the most damage there." Jimbei stated.

Zoro nodded, he placed his bandanna over his head and jumped off the side of the Sunny and waded to the shore. Jimbei dived over the opposite side of the Sunny into the deeper water and swam over to the other ships so he could shoot water at marines. Sanji jumped off and followed Zoro ashore, careful to stay on the other side of the beach to Iva. Franky went below deck to shoot cannon balls at docked enemy ships, and Nami stayed on deck and used her Clima- Tact to attack large groups of reinforcements coming onto the battlefield.

Zoro kept an eye out for someone decent to fight while he cut down the hordes of soldiers swarming at him. He smirked when he noticed a sword wielding vice admiral giving some of the revolutionaries a hard time. This was going to be easy. He bent his knees and ran over towards the vice admiral. He currently had two swords out but that was all he would need to defeat this foe. He crossed them together and shouted out, "Move!" To the revolutionaries before launching himself at the marine.

The marine lifted his long sword to counter Zoro's strike. He jumped back and glared at the marine, maybe this wouldn't be as easy as he initially thought. He placed Wado into his mouth, crossed his swords again and circled around the marine.

"Oni Giri!" He yelled out, slashing his swords out.

The marine dodged and made a twirling attack of his own that Zoro had no problem dodging. This was becoming a pain, he thought to himself.

Zoro stood facing away from the marine and waited for him to attack. When the vice admiral did, Zoro turned around. "Rengoku Oni Giri!" He leapt towards the marine and the sudden lightning fast triple slash caused an X- shaped stream of blood to flow from the marine's chest.

He smiled, that may have been slightly overkill. He shrugged and ran off to find another opponent.

* * *

"Uh oh…" Franky said looking at the store cupboard. There were no barrels of cola left. He had been working on the Sunny's coup de burst to only need one barrel of cola to work, but with Sanji escaping Iva and distracting the super cannon; their entire store had been used up. He prayed they would not need it later on. He went to the Sunny's cannons, he had recently designed a console where he could aim and fire the cannons from. His automatic loading machine wasn't finished quite yet though, so he had to load the cannons manually. He loaded them all then returned to the console near the window.

His top priority should be that cannon. That would cause the most damage when they went to escape. He aimed it up at the joint were the cannon bent at a right angle. He fired ruthlessly at it. Using anything the Sunny had. A small chunk of the cannon fell.

That will keep them busy for a while, he thought with a smirk, turning the cannons to the navy warships.

* * *

"Party Table Kick Course!" Sanji yelled out before jumping into the air. He landed hands down on the head of one of his opponents and spun around, rapidly kicking dozens of marines that were in range of his legs. Once all of them were knocked out, he dismounted from atop the marines head and kicked him in the gut for good measure. He looked around for another opponent, using his haki to try to find someone worth fighting, when he felt something powerful rapidly approach him.

He kicked off of the ground and launched himself into the air, kicking into nothing to stay afloat, where he had just been was a large crater. A marine captain glared up at him. "Get back down here you coward!" He yelled out.

Sanji took out a cigarette and lit it.

The marine almost looked like steam was going to blow out of his nose. He jumped up to attack Sanji in the air. Just before Sanji could counter something got in the way.

"Not you!" Sanji yelled out. "Go back to hell, you monster."

"Oh Sanji don't be so rude," Caroline called out. "I am helping you after all."

"I don't need any help from a crazy transvestite."

"Well you're getting it anyway." She/He called back.

"Like hell!" He yelled back. "You deal with this yourself!" He said as he kicked his way across the battlefield.

He growled looking around across the battle; surely not all the decent opponents were taken. He saw Jimbei on the shore water and shock waves all around him as he unleashed multiple deadly attacks against hundreds of incoming marines. Zoro had just dealt a deadly blow to a vice admiral; Brook had left the ship's protection to Nami and had gone out to attack a captain. Sanji could see Dragon going one on one against Kizaru and he could also see a lick of flame turn into an inferno somewhere on the other side of the field.

He then noticed a huge purple head…. Staying away from that direction… He finally noticed Franky had already destroyed a number of navy warships in addition to the cannon. He looked up at the golden monstrosity, who the hell had built that? He then had that question answered for him when he saw hundreds of slaves running around the cannon trying to fix the damage done to it. Monsters, he thought to himself. They had probably slaved away building this stupid city for decades, probably for the celestial dragons. He felt anger build up inside him. How many beautiful women had they enslaved and tortured?

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when something hit him and made him fall down to the earth below.

* * *

Sabo wasn't normally one for revenge, nor was he normally one to lose his temper, but he was unsure when he would next get a chance like this; and it was personal.

Akainu stood tall in front of him, magma dripping from his arms as he walked slowly towards Sabo. Absolute loathing filled Sabo's heart. Memories of Ace filled his mind. This man had taken away his brother and had almost taken his other one. He had scarred him more on that day than any physical scar he had. This man was a monster without mercy; he had almost taken everything away from Sabo. He wouldn't let it happen again. Never again. He would end this man's tyranny right now. Red filled up his vision as he lit himself up on fire.

Akainu smirked. "Today I'll add another to the set. I've already dealt with Firefist, today you, tomorrow the Pirate King."

"You won't get the opportunity." Sabo said glaring back at him. He felt like it wasn't just his body that was on fire. The blood that was pumping through his veins felt hot. An unusual sensation for Sabo, it fuelled his hate and made his muscles burn. All other emotions were gone, his only goal at the moment… Take Akainu down.

"Then come get me, you filthy criminal."

Sabo snarled and lowered his centre of gravity; he spread his legs apart and lifted his fist. "FIREFIST!" He yelled out before flames erupted from his hand. He clenched his metal pipe with the other and jumped into the air. He pulled back his flaming hand and aimed right at Akainu's face.

Akainu countered with his own fist covered in magma. Their fists collided in a huge mass of fire and magma. The heat wave knocked anyone close over.

The two faced each other down, waiting for whoever would make the next move. Revolutionaries and marines, who had been knocked down were now getting up and running for their lives.

Sabo gritted his teeth and jumped back, he had to be careful, like in the case with Ace, magma beats fire, so he had to end this quickly.

Akainu began circling a smirk still on his face. What was this jerk up to? Sabo thought to himself. He then heard something from above. He looked up and saw huge magma balls flying towards the earth. His jaw dropped. Akainu took advantage of Sabo's distraction and punched him in the gut. Blood spurted out from Sabo's mouth as he jumped back. Luckily he had used haki to protect himself just in time, but the blow was still painful. He spat out the remainder of the blood and wiped his mouth.

His turn now.

He lit his legs up on fire and flew over towards Akainu, at the last possible second he turned his legs back to normal and infused them with haki. The blow landed on Akainu's shoulder and it caused an inferno of fire to engulf everything around them. The ground cracked under the force of the kick. Akainu growled and went to hit Sabo's side. But he jumped off and flipped back onto the ground a few feet away.

* * *

"What the hell was that?" Sanji grumbled holding the bump on the back of his head. He hadn't noticed anyone was even nearby. He looked around and then noticed that something was on his coat. He looked at it for a second before it started expanding in size, engulfing his torso. He ripped of the jacket and watched as the dark green substance consumed the clothing. In seconds the jacket was gone. Sanji's jaw dropped. He then heard footsteps behind him.

"Are you impressed?" The man asked in a mocking tone. Sanji snarled and turned to face the man. He was tall, thin and his hair reminded him a little too much of Zoro's. It looked like moss and matched his dark green almost furry clothing. He also had a long white vice admiral coat over the top. Sanji snarled.

"It's the Fungi Fungi Fruit." He said with a smug look.

"You shot me out of the air?"

"Of course, you filthy pirates need to be taken down."

"Bastard!" Sanji said standing up. His body swung slightly as he stood up straight. He lowered his gaze before spinning on his foot. "Diable Jambe!" He called out before kicking out at the marine.

* * *

"Oh look who it is." Zoro said with a smirk. He looked out across the battle field to see Fujitora using his gravity ability to disable a hoard of revolutionary soldiers. "I wanted to have a go at him." Zoro said with anticipation.

He lowered his body, building up energy in his legs before he launched himself over at the navy admiral.

Sensing him just in time, Fujitora took out his gravity blade. "Raging Tiger."

Zoro was suddenly flung across to the side. Horizontal gravity, he thought to himself. He grunted and stabbed his sword into the ground, using it as an anchor, to avoid getting blown away by the gravity attack.

* * *

Brook had left the Sunny in Nami's capable hands and now was helping Jimbei at the shore. He used his sword to cut down any enemies that came near, but Jimbei appeared to be doing quite a good job by himself.

So he started looking for the ship that had carried off the information. Whilst doing so he saw Dragon fighting Kizaru. Bright lights and shock waves were reverberating from the encounter. Brook gulped, or he would have, if he wasn't a skeleton. Yohohoho! Skull joke! He thought to himself as he climbed aboard the nearest ship being careful not to interrupt the deadly battle between the two power forces.

It was pretty simple to cut down any marine in his path, on occasion he had to put a little more effort in with a captain, but he had no trouble checking and almost destroying any ship that he came across, until he got to the one he was looking for. Revolutionaries were trying to get aboard. Koala was at the front of the group trying to make her way onto the ship.

"Need a hand?" Brook asked.

"If you're not too busy!" She called back.

He coated his shikomizue with the aurora of his soul causing it to freeze ice solid. He swept it across the attacking marines, knocking them all down with a single blow.

The revolutionaries swarmed onto the boat looking for the stolen information. Brook joined them in the search, after about ten minutes, Koala came out onto the deck with a letter in her hand. She jumped up and down in excitement.

"Alright, I'll take this back to Dragon's ship. Brook can you let Hack, Iva, Dragon and Sabo know we've got what we came for." Koala said.

"Of course miss. But may I ask, can I see your panties?"

Koala pouted and ran off. Brook laughed and left to go find the revolutionary leaders.

* * *

Robin woke up to the sound of war. Cannons were going off, swords clashed, battle cries were being yelled out and screams of pain were rattling Robin's ears. She ran up onto deck and saw what looked like hell. Her jaw dropped.

"Robin! You're ok!" Nami yelled out.

"What happened?"

"The others went out to help."

"I'll go find Koala," she called out. "What happened to the cannon?"

"Franky disabled it!"

Robin nodded and crossed her arms; she used her ability to see everything across the battlefield. She found Brook.

"Brook have you seen Koala?"

"Yes she went back onto Dragon's ship. She found the stolen information. We can retreat. I was about to tell everyone."

"I'll handle it. Help the others." She told him before letting her clone disappear. She found Hack and Iva and told them what was going on. But Dragon and Sabo looked to be too busy to talk to her at the moment. She was about to look for Sanji and Zoro, when she felt Nami shake her real body.

"Robin!" She shook. "Robin, the cannon is fixed!"

"They can't fire though; the marines are all mingled in with the revolutionaries."

Nami's eyes held so much fear. She pointed up at the cannon.

Robin looked up to it. No. They wouldn't. They couldn't.

But they were.

The cannon was aimed directly at the beach were the main battle was taking place. Hundreds upon hundreds of people were fighting there!

"Robin what do we do!?" Nami cried. "We have no more cola for another coup de burst!"

Robin was too shocked to move. Some of her Nakama and her friends of the revolutionary army were there. They couldn't survive a direct blow from that thing.

What could she do?

The cannon buzzed as it built up energy.

* * *

Sabo was still fighting strong against Akainu, he was stronger than Fujitora, but he was sure he could take him out; one way or another. They quarrelled fire and magma mixing together to make large heat waves that destroyed the buildings near the beach. The gold was even beginning to melt off of the nearby pillars.

Sabo thought the fight was going well, until he let his rage blind him. He didn't see the hit coming; his haki hadn't warned him in time. The blow hit his shoulder and knocked him to the ground. The magma melted his skin to the bone. The smell made him want to vomit. He looked down at his shoulder and could see his muscle bands and the end of his collar bone sticking out. That was going to leave another scar. He then looked up at Akainu; the man towered over him, his bulky body shadowy in the fiery light. His aurora was powerful and menacing. Sabo tried to get up, but the fleet admiral lifted his leg and kicked Sabo back onto the ground.

Sabo then heard the cannon revving up again. He looked up and saw light at the end of the barrel.

Oh no….

He sighed, accepting his fate. I'm sorry Luffy, he thought to himself. Looks like I'm leaving you alone again. Appears Ace and I were too similar. Neither of us could beat him on our own.

"I'm so sorry Luffy, I'll tell Ace you said hi."

It's all up to you now, little brother.

* * *

 **(A/N) Hope you enjoyed. CLIFF HANGER MWHAHAHAHAHAHA!**

 **I probably won't update till after Christmas SOOO MERRY CHRISTMAS! Or Season's Greetings, to those who don't celebrate Christmas. Have a wonderful day my amazing readers! Hope you get tonnes of pressies!**

 **Guest Reviews: (Rest via PM)**

 **Wow: I don't think the birds quite that big… Though it would be funny! I'm glad you liked their reactions; I was worried they were a bit to similar but was trying to attempt a 'running gag' kind of thing with everyone thinking Ace is a ghost. And yes! I have been trying to figure out what to do in regards to Sabo eating Ace's devil fruit since before I started writing the story. I have three idea's (I'm pretty sure I asked a question about it at the end of chapter… 10? But no one said anything so meh, I deleted it.) I asked my Beta and my sister, and they each like different ideas I had, but neither thought the one I thought was best, would be best…. So… I'm kinda stuck. But I'll figure it out before the end… hopefully…  
Hahaha Thanks for your review!**

 **Thank you all! TATA!**

 **UmbraAurumDragon OUT!**


	18. Chapter 18- You're Late

**(A/N) This chapter was Beta'd by the outstanding HaruHanabishi, thank you!**

 **Happy late New Year! (Speaking of which I put out a New Year's One Shot, feel free to have a look.)**

 **Sorry this took sooooo long (4 weeks…). I got sick AGAIN! Gah! I'm still not better… But powering through!**

 **I also just realised I've been doing dialogue wrong my whole life…. So the grammar when people are speaking is going to be different.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, I am not Oda.**

* * *

 **Previously: The majority of the Straw Hat crew arrived at a strange island with a golden city and cannon. Zoro is fighting Fujitora, Sanji is fighting a fungi fungi devil fruit user, Nami and Robin are defending the sunny, Brook Franky and Jimbei are dealing with the massive army, Dragon is fighting Kizaru and Sabo is losing a battle against Akainu. The cannon is about to fire again and kill everyone and to top it off, Luffy and gang are nowhere in sight.**

* * *

 **Candle Heart**

 **Chapter 18- You're Late**

Zoro slowly made his way closer to the marine admiral. The gravity on him was immense, making it hard to move. When he got close enough, he slashed out his swords, Fujitora deflected the hit. The gravity released for a second and Zoro ran up to him to slice again when he heard a familiar sound.

"What the hell?" Zoro exclaimed looking up at the cannon. Fujitora looked out at Zoro with his dead eyes.

"This will cause much destruction." he said holding his sword close to his chest.

"This is such a pain," Zoro grunted.

"I will not let my men die," Fujitora said.

"They wouldn't die if you didn't aim a cannon at them."

"This is not my doing pirate hunter."

"Peh Whatever," Zoro replied, before attempting another slice at him.

"You still want to fight me?" Fujitora asked. "Are you not worried about your allies?"

"They can take care of themselves just fine," he smirked.

Their blades clashed sending ringing noises across the battlefield. Fujitora's gravity occasionally caused a massive wave of force to bare down on Zoro. He dodged them when able or just used sheer muscle to avoid being blown away. By now though, not a single soul was anywhere near their intense battle, and not just because of fear. Zoro noticed that the battlefield was growing empty; most of the revolutionaries were heading towards the ships. _They must've got what they came for,_ he thought. Marines had followed them to the beach in attempt to kill them while they were escaping. Then Zoro noticed something. The cannon had stopped charging, and it wasn't aimed at him anymore, it was aimed at the beach where everyone was massing.

Fujitora apparently noticed this as well, "I must go swordsman, we'll finish this battle later."

Zoro grunted as he watched the man go off. He guessed he should probably go help somehow. Maybe he could destroy the cannon. He looked up at it. _This was such a pain_ , he thought before running off towards it.

* * *

Yume looked out at the water; they had been flying for so long she couldn't feel her backside anymore. At least Sakatori's feathers kept her warm in the cool crisp air. She felt gruntled and safe in front of Luffy, though she knew that she wasn't going to be so comfortable wherever she was going. Usopp and Ace were exchanging stories in whispered tones from behind her while Chopper and Luffy had fallen fast asleep ages ago. She felt her own head dip a little to the side; it felt like she had only closed her eyes for a second but she awoke to a bright sun blaring into her eyes from the horizon. It almost looked like it was peeping over the edge of the water to have a look at the new day.

"Morning sleepy head!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Morning," she replied. "Are we almost there?" she asked looking at the boys behind her.

They all shrugged in response.

She rolled her eyes. She then grabbed the food satchel and handed out its contents.

"Can we land somewhere soon?" she asked, "I think we all need a rest."

"You'll be fine!" Luffy said patting her a little too hard on the back, "anyway, we're in a hurry!"

"Hahahahaha! We'll get there soon Yume!" Ace said chomping down on a piece of meat. "Luffy will-"

"Luffy will what?" she asked looking back at him.

His eyes had closed and he appeared to be…. Snoring?

"Luffy what's wrong with Ace?" she asked looking at him. She gasped as she noticed he had closed his eyes and was snoring too.

"They're just narcoleptic Yume," Usopp laughed.

"Yes they're fine," Chopper agreed.

Yume let out the breath she had been holding, but her eyes widened as she looked back and saw both of them slip off Sakatori.

"Usopp!" she cried.

He reached forward and grabbed Luffy. But no one could grab Ace at the back and he began to fall to his doom.

* * *

"Stupid mouldy marine!" Sanji exclaimed. He had to admit though, he liked fighting this marine, he reminded him of Zoro which made every kick to the marines face more satisfying.

He went in for another kick, but jumped back when he saw a blue carpet had formed just underneath him. He looked closer and realised they were tiny mushrooms. They spread quickly and went up onto his shoes. He flicked them off as the little blue shrooms devoured them.

"Hey! You owe me a new jacket and shoes!" he yelled at the marine.

The marine smirked and ran at Sanji. The mouldy man attempted a punch, but the cook blocked it with a haki infused kick. Heaven knows what would happen to his pants and skin if he tried to kick the marine without reinforcement haki.

Sanji could hear the sound of the cannon charging in the distance but his only focus right now was the marine.

A huge semicircular fungus then grew up around Sanji, he kicked his way through it but when he did, it vaporised into spores and landed on his shirt. He ripped it off as the spores began to turn his shirt from white to mouldy fruit green.

"What the hell are you doing? Leave my clothes alone!" he shouted.

The marine, instead of replying chucked hot pink spotty toadstools at Sanji. He dodged and jumped into the air and dealt the marine a kick. Blood began to drip down the marines lip.

Sanji smirked he had the marine on his last leg. That was until one of the mushrooms hit his pants, little yellow spikes began to grow out of the black material. He ripped them off too.

That left only one problem…

He only had one item of clothing left and he wasn't happy about it.

"You'll pay for this!" he grumbled.

"Oh Sanji you look wonderful! Let it all out!" Iva said as she pranced past chasing some marines.

Sanji lowered his head in shame and his body began to shake. He saw Zoro smirk from across the field.

Now he was pissed!

"Diable Jambe!" he shouted out spinning on one foot. He managed to kick the marine but then he suddenly stopped.

He felt his throat close up. He couldn't breathe. He clutched his chest. _What the hell was going on?_ He coughed into his hand and saw different coloured spores all over it.

 _No. No way. Had he inhaled them?_ He coughed again, and wheezed as he tried to get more oxygen into his body. He heard the marine laughing, in his fading vision he could see the cannon aimed at the beach and Zoro running over to the cannon. _Not like this. He couldn't die from this idiot's hand. Not half naked like this either. It would be a disgrace to the captain_. He wheezed again as he felt the excruciating pain of the spores spreading throughout his lungs.

* * *

"Ace!" they all screamed out as they watched helplessly as Ace fell. Sakatori dove down to catch him, but it was obvious he wouldn't make it.

"Luffy! Wake up and save your brother!" Usopp said shaking Luffy. But he didn't wake up.

They screamed in terror as Ace fell towards the water. But at the last possible second, a blue creature flashed out and grabbed the fire man with its talons. They all let out a sigh of relief as Marco levelled out with Ace in his claws. He gave them and Ace a bored, annoyed look. Ace then decided to wake up and noticed where he was.

"Hey what happened?" he asked, looking around, "Marco can you loosen your grip? You're going to rip off my arms."

Marco sighed and dropped Ace back on top of Sakatori before falling in behind them again.

"Marco you're so quiet, we forgot you were there." Usopp said rubbing the back of his head. The blue phoenix smirked in response before suddenly pulling up. Sakatori followed suit and began to beat his wings in a backwards motion to stay still in the sky. Luffy took this opportunity to wake up and stare at their destination. A city of gold and jewels lay upon an island before them.

"So cool!" Luffy exclaimed.

Yume couldn't move, she stared out at the city and fear overtook her. She began to shake uncontrollably.

"Hey Yume, what's wrong?

"Luffy you can't. You promised. Please. Don't take me back there," she said tears filling up her eyes.

Luffy's jaw dropped as he realised where they were. This was the island he had picked Yume up from in the past. Where she had been a slave.

* * *

Robin watched the horror that was unfolding before her eyes. Sanji and Sabo were down, Zoro had run off to destroy the cannon and all of the revolutionaries and marines were gathering near the beach, making an easy target for the cannon high above them. She watched as the cannon, now full with power aimed closer to where everyone was. In the main battlefield, all that was left was a few mangled bodies and a few stronger marines, soldiers and pirates fighting.

Robin noticed Nami was in shock, she was staring down at Jimbei and Brook fighting and helping revolutionaries onto ships. Robin looked over and saw Franky jump over the railing of the Sunny to go help.

Robin's gaze was fixated on Sabo and Sanji, neither of them were moving and Sabo appeared to have lost a lot of blood. She couldn't do anything to help them; the Sunny was all out of cola, so they couldn't fire.

The barrel of the cannon was now directly facing the beach, Robin could see right down to the end where a light was building up.

Everything seemed to move slower, the beam exited the barrel, but never hit its target. Something fell out of the sky and intercepted it. Marines and revolutionaries alike all let out the breath they had been holding. But their sighs turned into gasps as they realised who had intercepted the shot.

"Luffy…" Robin said letting out a breath of relief.

A huge black bird landed on top of the wall surrounding the city. A smaller blue one landed next to it. Four people got off the black bird, but from this distance, it was hard to see who it was. It looked like to Robin, to be Usopp, Chopper and two others; who looked to be a child and a man. Luffy landed next to them with a shout she had no trouble hearing.

"It's the Pirate King!" Marines called out fearfully.

Robin saw Fujitora below them try hide a smile; the other high ranking marines however, did not look so impressed.

"Oh my gosh!" Nami exclaimed.

"What is it Nami?" Robin asked looking at her. Nami was looking up at the wall through binoculars.

"The- The man with Luffy, that's-that's… Ace!"

* * *

"You're late," Zoro said with a grunt.

"Zoro!" Luffy yelled out, "what are you doing up here?"

"Looking for the cannon."

"It's just there," Luffy said pointing up.

"I can see that you- huh?" he said seeing Ace, "what the hell?" He said rubbing the back of his head.

"SURPRISE!" Luffy yelled out.

"What is he some sort of ghost or something?" Zoro asked.

"Thankfully no," Chopper and Usopp both answered for him.

Ace laughed and patted Zoro on the shoulder. "Nice to see you again swordsman. Luffy has told me all about your exploits recently."

"Yeah, it's pretty nice being the strongest swordsman," he said with a smirk.

"I bet," Ace replied.

"Oi Luffy. I think we may need to help the love cook and your brother. They seem to be in a pickle."

Luffy stared down at the battlefield. "Sanji will be fine"- he pointed down- "look he's even getting up."

"Oh yeah, I guess so."

"Hey, how am I in a pickle?" Ace asked looking around.

"You haven't told him?" Zoro asked lifting an eyebrow.

"Told him what?"

Zoro sighed, "Never mind, go down and deal with Akainu, I'll handle the cannon, Usopp and Chopper better go see Sanji."

"I'll help you with that cannon yoi," Marco said joining the conversation.

"Whatever, just don't fall behind."

"Marco! Make sure he doesn't get lost!" Usopp called out.

Marco chuckled as he ran off after Zoro.

"Come on Ace!" Luffy said grabbing his brother's arm, "time for round two with the magma guy," he said jumping off the wall.

Usopp, Chopper and Yume hopped back on Sakatori and went to go help the others.

Yume gulped in fear, Luffy promised her nothing bad would happen. But that didn't take away any of her fear. She gripped Sakatori tightly as they flew down.

* * *

Sanji stood up, his sheer force of will keeping him awake. He would not die when his captain was so close. He still couldn't breathe. But like hell was he just going to lie down. He attempted another kick at the marine that sent him flying. _Darn it all, the marine was pretty much out, only a few more shots and he'd be done for._

He was about to kick again, when he felt something fly into his mouth. He choked but accidently swallowed the thing, _what the hell was it_? He looked back to see where it came from and saw Usopp and Chopper a few meters away. _It must've been medicine from Chopper_. He felt his breathing come easier and he was feeling stronger. He twirled around again and planted one final kick to the marines gut. He fell to the ground unconscious.

"Usopp, Chopper! Thanks," he said walking up to them.

"Sanji!" Chopper exclaimed running up to him, "lie down, I don't know whether the medicine I gave you got rid of all the fungal spores, I need to get rid of them before they start a colony and kill you."

"I'm fine," Sanji replied, reaching down for a cigarette to remember all his clothes were gone.

"Sanji…. Where are all your clothes?" Usopp asked.

Sanji growled and gave him an evil look. He looked around and found a long cloak on the ground and draped it over himself.

"Let's go help the others," he said walking towards the shore.

"Can I help?" he noticed a young girl standing next to Chopper.

"Maybe next time kid," he said continuing his walk.

"But I can chase all the marines away," she said pulling on his cloak.

Sanji smirked, "Go ahead then."

The little girl squeezed her eyes shut and crossed her arms. Suddenly Sanji could hear the sound of thousands of beating wings. On the horizon he saw a swarm of what appeared to be bats. But as they got closer, they looked much bigger, with huge talons and teeth that appeared almost bat like.

Their screeching sounded like thousands of people scratching nails along a blackboard. The smell assaulted him next, like rotting flesh, and the closer the creatures got, the more details he could see of their ugly distorted faces. When they passed over the water they left a dark shadow of fear in their wake. He could hear marines scream and run away. He even began to get nervous until suddenly they disappeared. He couldn't see them. But apparently the marines still could. They were still screaming in terror and ducking from invisible creatures.

The revolutionaries were looking around confused; they appeared to have not seen the beasts at all.

"Is this little girl doing this?" Sanji asked gobsmacked.

"Yeah, Luffy told us she had illusionary powers. Her name is Yume."

"Impressive," he said.

"Sanji can you stay here with her? She can't move whilst like this. Usopp and I will go tend to the injured," Chopper said.

"Yeah sure," Sanji replied.

The two nodded and ran off leaving Yume and Sanji alone.

* * *

"What did he mean Luffy?" Ace asked running behind Luffy on the battlefield.

"Shishishishi, I'll show you." he said running faster.

Luffy looked around to try find Sabo, he then felt his haki twinge weakly nearby. He saw Sabo on the ground in the distance, Akainu was towering over him. He looked like he was about to punch Sabo in the chest. Luffy infused his legs with haki and ran as fast as he could towards them. He intercepted the punch with a haki infused fist.

Akainu took a step back.

"Two birds with one stone. This will be fun," he said in a tormenting tone.

Ace ran up towards them. "Luffy what is-"he saw Sabo on the ground.

"Sabo?" he asked his eyes wide.

"Ace?" Sabo asked weakly.

"Firefist!" Akainu exclaimed in shock.

"SURPRISE!" Luffy yelled out.

* * *

 **(A/N) Hope you enjoyed.**

 **Spoiler for episode 772, kind of:**

 **MARCO IS COMING BACK IN CANNON! DHEKDFEJLFBEDOFELN! I'm so excited!**

 **Guest Reviews: (Rest via PM)**

 **Wow: I hate Akainu too; I was yelling for Whitebeard to kill him after Ace died and threw a spaz when he survived. Glad you like the fungi fungi idea, came up with it by looking at mould in the bathroom… Hahahaha.  
Danget you've given me another idea! But I guess if that were to be the case, wouldn't of Luffy have his devil fruit respawn when he went back in time? Maybe… I don't know… I'm confusing myself now. Maybe I'll just have different characters suggest different ideas and then just kind of have a 'we'll never know' thing. That sounds pretty lazy though…  
Maybe I should kill Sabo in the last sentence of the story just for you! Mwhahaha! 'Runs away from pitch forks'. Thanks for the review!**

 **Keen yeah: Sabo Yes! Thanks for the review**

 **(Thanks for the Guest Reviews on my One Shot too)**

 **P.S if you're confused about mould not being mold- It's the Australian version rather than the American version.**

 **Thank you all! TATA!**

 **UmbraAurumDragon OUT!**


	19. Chapter 19- Brothers Fight

**(A/N) This chapter was Beta'd by the outstanding Aliahra, thank you!**

 **Sorry this took so long. Please enjoy! (Manga readers may get confused at the end as I refer to a non- cannon episode.)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, I am not Oda.**

* * *

 **Previously: Zoro stopped fighting gravity dude to destroy the cannon, Sanji kicked fungi guys' ass and is now looking after Yume. Franky, Jimbei and Brook are dealing with the hordes. Luffy came in like a badass and went to go save Sabo with Ace.**

* * *

 **Candle Heart**

 **Chapter 19- Brothers Fight**

"It's this way!" Zoro yelled out.

"Swordsman, that way leads back down to the beach yoi," Marco said rolling his bored eyes.

Zoro skidded to a halt, "Are you sure?"

"This way yoi," Marco said grabbing Zoro and pulling him up the stairs rather than down. "So any ideas on how to destroy this thing yoi?"

"Cut it."

"Simple enough yoi."

They ran single file up the stairs. Marines were everywhere, hundreds of them running down to try to stop the two invaders, but they managed to cut them down like flies. They arrived on a landing but were stopped.

"Get out of the way," Zoro grunted.

In front of them stood about a hundred slaves blocking the stairwell. They were thin, scarred and none of them had much clothing.

"What are we going to do yoi?" Marco asked. "We can't just cut them down like the marines."

The slaves shuffled towards them, their faces were void of emotion and their eyes seemed like nothing more than dark empty sockets against their pasty skin.

Zoro smirked, "Hey Marco."

"I don't like that smirk yoi."

"Can your phoenix form fit in here?"

"Maybe just enough to fly yoi," he said rubbing his chin. "Why?"

"Change forms!" Zoro demanded.

"NO! WHY YOI!"

"Just do it you stupid bird brain!" Zoro said grabbing his shoulders and shaking them.

"I'd rather face the Zombie hoard!"

"Come on pineapple head," Zoro said gripping his hair, "just change already."

Marco let out a screech as blue flames burst out from his body. He increased in size and Zoro made sure he held onto his hair as the bird started to fly over the slaves.

* * *

Almost all of the revolutionaries were now on the ships. Marines were still running around like mad in fear of the illusionary bats and The Strawhats had almost got all of the injured safely away.

Sanji wasn't feeling too good though.

 _Maybe I should've gotten Chopper to have a look at me_. He thought to himself, clutching his chest. It was beginning to get harder and harder to breathe, but he needed to protect the girl. She had proven to be an invaluable distraction, but Sanji was noticed she herself wasn't looking too flash either. Her skin was turning pale and sweat was running down her neck and arms.

 _Maybe I should pull her out of it?_

His thought was interrupted though by a group of marines jumping out and attacking him. He moved between them and the girl and kicked out at any who dared come close. But his vision was going blurry again. One marine kicked him in the side, causing him to fly a few meters to the side. He got up again, and took in a wheezy breath.

 _Where had all these marines come from?_

He looked over and noticed them swarm from the city.

 _Reinforcements…. great._

They swarmed around him shooting and attacking with swords. He fought them all off with difficulty. It would be much easier to fight if he could just breathe properly. Then he realised something.

 _There's no more screaming._

He looked over and saw the marines were back to attacking the ships and the revolutionaries, without a hint of the frenzy they had been in just moments before. What had happened to the illusion though? He looked over to see that:

Yume was gone.

* * *

A shiver went down Yume's spine, if the marines felt even half the fear she did when she saw the bats, she was sure that she could distract them. She made sure to add every grueling detail she could remember from the creatures into her vision from their awful shrieks to the slime dripping out of their fanged mouths.

She could hear a commotion in the background but she decided to trust Sanji to protect her and just focus on her task at hand. She was beginning to get tired though and her head was aching.

A hand gripped her shoulder and yanked her backwards.

She yelped as her eyes flew open to see a familiar face.

* * *

As Ace was staring down at Sabo, he felt something shatter inside of him.

 _It's impossible…._

 _This can't be real…._

 _Sabo…._

His train of thought was interrupted by what sounded like a volcano spontaneously combusting. He looked over at the cause of the noise and saw that Akainu appeared to be boiling over. His face was going through shades of ghost white, to beetroot red, to cold blue, before returning to the red colour of anger.

"Firefist," he said in a low dangerous tone.

"Shishishishi."

Ace looked over at Luffy to see he was enjoying every second of their confusion.

A smile grew over Ace's face. Why shouldn't he be enjoying this?

After all the ASL Pirates were back.

* * *

Sabo couldn't keep his eyes off of Ace, surely it was an illusion. He had seen Ace's grave himself. Had mourned for him, how could he be alive? He remembered all those years ago when he saw the newspaper reporting Ace's death. How the memories had suddenly returned. The pain of never seeing his brother again. Sabo's eyes were wide with shock and he couldn't move.

 _What the hell had Luffy done?_

He was surprised to see Ace alive, but wasn't surprised at all that Luffy had organised it. He finally dragged his eyes off Ace to notice Akainu was going berserk. When his gaze returned to his brother he saw his old smile slowly spreading from ear to ear.

He had missed that smile so much.

Ace and Luffy moved between him and Akainu, he realised what they were doing.

 _No way are they showing me up_ , he thought.

He mirrored his brothers' smiles and slowly got to his feet.

"Sabo-" Luffy said looking back at him.

"I'm fine!" he said glaring out, "I have to look after you two."

"Together then," Ace said.

"Yosh, I'll kick his butt!" Luffy said in agreement.

"As if Luffy, I'll be the one to deal the final blow," Ace said.

"Not if I do it first," Sabo said as he moved to the left side of Luffy and lit himself up.

Ace on Luffy's right side did so at the same time.

"Well this is strange," Ace said, scratching the back of his head.

"It's awesome!" Luffy said looking at one of them then the other.

"We'll have to sort this out later," Sabo said.

"Why bother?" Ace smirked returning his gaze to Akainu.

Sabo rolled his eyes; he'd figure it out when this was over.

Akainu grunted and brought his arm back.

Luffy bent down, grabbed his knees and pumped blood through his system. Steam began to exit his body.

"Second Gear."

* * *

Zoro could get used to this. He let out a little evil chuckle from atop Marco's back as they flew up the stairs.

 _This is a much faster way to climb stairs._

They came to a landing and Marco set down and returned to his human form.

"Get off me yoi!"

"Hey, turn back into a bird!"

"No, get off my back! We've passed the slaves, now off yoi!"

"Come on! Mush!"

"I'm a Phoenix not a dog, Baka yoi!"

Rather reluctantly Zoro got down from his piggy back perch on Marco's back. They began to climb the stairs again. Luckily there was only a few more to go before they reached the final floor.

"Oh this is going to be fun!"

In the centre of the room was a huge machine that probably powered the cannon above them. But what interested Zoro was the Celestial Dragon in the corner surrounded by marines.

"What are you idiots waiting for? Kill them!" he shouted.

The marines rushed towards them. Zoro smirked and took out Shusui and cut them down. Marco just kicked or punched any that came close to him. The stupid bubble head was sweating now; he had hidden behind a group of slaves and was using them as a meat shield. Zoro walked up and grabbed his collar and threw him across the room.

Zoro walked over to give him another punch only to realise he was unconscious.

He returned to Marco's side to look at the engine. He cracked his neck and took out Sandai Kitetsu. Marco happily moved back to lean against the back wall.

Zoro crossed his swords over his chest before slashing them outwards. Marco ducked behind him. He resheathed the swords as a line formed around the circumference of the room. They walked outside onto the balcony and Marco gave the wall a little kick and everything above them, cannon, wall, engine and all, all fell to the battlefield below.

"You don't think that'll hit anyone do you yoi?"

"Meh they'll deal with it," Zoro said walking back down inside.

"The steps are this way yoi."

"I knew that!" Zoro grumbled changing direction.

* * *

He looked older… much older… but she could easily tell it was the same man. Fear had ingrained his face into her mind. The guard, the one who had tormented her, he was still here. Probably still tormenting other slaves. He was going to hurt her again… and Luffy was nowhere in sight.

He had picked her up and was carrying her on his shoulder.

"Little wrench! Don't think I've forgotten you, you had me demoted!"

Yume looked around for Sanji. He was fighting like a demon, but he didn't look so good, and he was so far away. He was calling out for her.

She yelped in pain as the man threw her to the ground. She didn't even know this scumbag's name and he was going to kill her.

She bit her tongue before she could start crying. She wouldn't cry, she had learned to be tough.

The man lifted his blood stained sword above her.

She didn't look away or close her eyes, she tried to manage a smile in the face of death like Luffy told her, but couldn't.

The sword slowly came down.

But it stopped.

It took her a while to process what had happened.

The man… he was… cut in half…?

She turned around and saw Law with his long sword leaning against his shoulder.

"Your stupid cat snuck onto my ship," he said kicking the fluff ball at his feet over to her.

Grumpy hissed at him before climbing into Yume's lap.

Yume was flabbergasted, how had he gotten here?

 _Surely he didn't just come to give her cat back?_

"Law?"

"Come on, let's rescue Straw hat- ya's cook before he suffocates. He should have rested when Tony- ya gave him medicine."

"How long have you been here?" Yume asked.

He shrugged, "long enough."

* * *

"Give me my legs back!"

"No Blackleg- ya, you'll kill yourself."

"I have no way to defend myself without legs!"

"Which is why we're taking you away from the battle."

"My captain is still out there!"

"With his brothers, yes I know Blackleg- ya."

"How the hell did he even?"

"You should know your captain by now."

"You have a point," Sanji said, a little disgruntled.

"Nami- ya will be nearby."

"Really?" Sanji said clapping his hands together with a smile.

"Sit still Blackleg- ya."

"Well maybe if you carried me more gently."

They arrived at the beach where the Sunny was.

"Sanji! You don't look so good!" Chopper yelled out running towards them. "Let's get him onto the Sunny."

"He's your responsibility now. I'm going."

"But Law!" Yume whined.

"You have your stupid cat. I'm going to watch the battle from the submarine." he said boarding his own ship.

"Actually we should all go," Chopper said, "the only ones still fighting is Luffy, Ace, Sabo and Akainu. Dragon seems to be finished fighting with Aokiji. And all the revolutionaries are safe on boats. We're just defending them from marines now."

"And the cannon is destroyed so we can retreat without getting shot at."

"Where have you been hiding Marimo?" Sanji snarled.

"Go eat some drugs, and puts some clothes on you stupid Love Cook," Zoro retorted walking up to them with Marco at his side.

"Sakatori can pick up the three brothers when they're done," Nami said from the Sunny's deck, "now hurry up and get on."

Most of the marine's ships had been damaged by Franky. So the ships safely sailed a reasonable distance away to watch Luffy's battle unfold.

* * *

"Heat Haze!" Sabo yelled out as fire exited the palm of his hand and exploded towards Akainu.

"Hiken!" Ace shouted as his fist turned into flame and a column of fire shot out from it.

"Gomu Gomu No Elephant Gun!"

Under the force of each of the brother's attacks, the ground beneath them began to crumble.

Akainu took each hit almost like it was nothing. Even with Haki and their devil fruits, Akainu was still a deadly opponent.

Somewhere in the background the cannon fell to the ground squashing hundreds of marines.

The three of them slipped into their old rhythm like one would slip into a favourite pair of socks. It was completely natural. And the ever present gap that had been there first when Sabo was gone and then Ace had disappeared.

The brothers fought like maniacs, all three of them with personal vendettas against the Fleet Admiral.

"You're brothers have overtaken you in skill Firefist, I wonder what that old fool Whitebeard would've said."

"Shut up!" Luffy yelled out running up to him whilst coating his arm in haki. He planted a deadly fist to Akainu's jaw. Knocking him back with an enormous shockwave.

"You're a pathetic excuse of a Pirate." Akainu said launching a counter punch at Luffy's side. Luffy used haki to deflect the blow, but his skin still turned a dark black and he was knocked back.

"Luffy is the Pirate KING!" Sabo said shooting fire at Akainu.

Akainu countered by slapping him away.

Sabo flew ten metres away tumbling along the ground creating a long deep crater.

"Sabo!" Ace called out.

Akainu suddenly appeared behind him and kicked him in the opposite direction to Sabo.

Magma burnt all down Ace's side, and he winced as he felt a broken rib protruding from his side.

Luffy's eyes went dark.

"You three will never amount to anything. You all had pathetic teachers, trainers, parents. Filth runs through your veins."

"Bastard," Luffy growled running at Akainu with his arms pulled back.

He coated his arms with haki, "Gomu Gomu No Jet Bazooka!" he yelled out.

Akainu dodged the attack and launched balls of Lava at Luffy which he dodged with Kenbunshoku Haki.

Sabo and Ace got up and both launched attacks of their own.

But he didn't seem fazed at all.

"Luffy!" Sabo yelled out, "Red Hawk!"

Luffy nodded.

"Ace."

"I think I got it." He said with a smirk.

The three of them all infused their fists with haki and ran at Akainu together.

"Gomu Gomu No Red Hawk!"

"Hiken!" Ace yelled.

"Hiken!" Sabo shouted at the same time.

The three of them all used their ignited fists to attack Akainu.

He was launched back a hundred metres, and landed hard on his back. His entire front burnt.

Ace gripped his ribs hard to stop the bleeding; Sabo did the same with his shoulder.

"You two alright?" Luffy asked.

"We're fine!" Ace snarled. "I'm going to tear him to shreds for what he did to Pops."

"That's if the ground can take it," Sabo said looking around.

Akainu slowly stood up. His body was heaving, he was covered in a red mix of blood and magma both pouring out of him in waves.

"Inugami Guren." He said lowly. His fist expanded with magma and changed into the head of the dog.

It knocked the three brothers back. But Luffy got the brunt of the attack. His old scar was reopened on the first few layers of skin. Making it much larger than before.

"Shinka Shiranui!" Ace yelled out launching long lances at Akainu, he dodged three of them but the fourth impaled his left arm. Akainu let out a grunt before returning the attack by giving Ace an uppercut to the jaw.

"You're next!" He yelled out pointing to Sabo.

Sabo lowered his body weight and pulled out his pole from behind his back. He infused it with haki and fire and attacked. His pole hit Akainu across the shoulder, dislocating it. Akainu yelled in a rage and flung out his other arm. Sabo jumped back to his brother's side. Ace took his place and kicked out at Akainu's shoulder.

Akainu rolled backwards before standing up and aimed consecutive punches and lastly a kick at Ace. Ace dodged or blocked them. While he was distracted Luffy jumped up and punched Akainu in the face.

Akainu let out an explosion of magma it spread out across the field. Ace and Luffy retreated back a few paces.

Magma was now raining from the sky and bursting forth from the ground. The sound of magma hitting the sea water made a steaming sizzling sound.

Luffy glared out, "Ace, Sabo I have a plan."

Ace put his hands in his pockets and leaned back, "I'm ready to do about anything at this point."

Luffy smirked, "remember when we were kids?"

Sabo smiled, "got it."

"Same, but what will we use?" Ace asked.

Luffy pointed over at the cannon that had broken into two pieces.

"That'll work." Ace chuckled.

"I'll lead him over there, then Sabo and I can swap out till Ace and I are ready." Luffy said.

His two brothers nodded in agreement.

Luffy walked up to Akainu.

"Filthy pirate!" Akainu yelled out before launching himself at Luffy.

Luffy lifted his arm and infused it with Haki, "Fourth Gear," he blew into his arm. "Muscle Balloon!"

His body expanded and turned almost completely black with Haki.

Akainu was still running towards him. Luffy bounced up and down waiting for the right moment.

Just before Akainu punched out Luffy launched himself into the air.

"Gomu Gomu No Rhino Schneider!" He yelled out hitting him with his feet.

"ARRRGHHH!" Akainu yelled he launched himself in the air powered by an explosion of magma behind him and followed Luffy.

"Gomu Gomu No Kong Gun!"

Akainu dodged the punch, and returned it with one of his own.

The two exchanged hits in the air, one occasionally knocking the other into the ground or into huge golden buildings of the city. Within thirty seconds half the city was in ruins.

Luffy led him back towards the beach where the two halves of the cannon were now standing upright and leaning on each other and the city gate.

Sabo interjected and joined Luffy's attack. Luffy ran flew off towards the giant triangle at the huge gates.

"Where are you going you pathetic excuse for a pirate? Are you a coward?" Akainu yelled out before Sabo hit his jaw with his pole, shutting him up.

Luffy chuckled as he reached Ace, "Ready?" Luffy asked, still bouncing up and down.

Ace nodded.

Luffy stood between the gates and stretched out his arms grabbing onto the two sides of the broken cannon. He started bouncing backwards through the gate. His arms clicking with force.

Ace moved in front of Luffy. He lit his arms on fire.

"Ace kick his butt for me. I'm still not over him killing you." Luffy said with dark eyes.

Ace smirked, "sure thing."

Sabo sensing they were ready ran towards them. Akainu in a blind rage ran after him.

"I will not let you and your brothers escape justice again!" he called out.

"Closer, closer, closer," Luffy whispered. He planted his feet on the ground.

Sabo suddenly jumped out of the way. And Luffy lifted his feet.

Ace shot forward from the makeshift Luffy slingshot.

"For Pops!" he screamed.

Akainu could not move fast enough. Ace blasted a huge hole of fire through Akainu's chest.

Akainu coughed up blood.

Everything was still for a second.

Then Akainu fell to his knees. Blood spurted out of his fiery wound and out of his mouth. He fell flat on his face.

Marines in the background began screaming, whilst the revolutionaries started cheering.

Luffy wrapped an arm around each brother and they held each other up as they walked towards the beach.

"So Luffy you going to explain how Ace is alive?" Sabo asked.

"Shishishishi, nope," he said with a smile spreading from one ear to the other.

* * *

 **(A/N) Hope you enjoyed.**

 **Guest Reviews: (Rest via PM)**

 **Wow: Thanks!  
I haven't seen all of X-Men Apocalypse! :O Only bits and pieces! I should watch it.**

 **They kind of sound the same. I forgot Law had a sister for a second there. I googled her and realized she looks quite similar to how I imagined Yume. Except with a slightly longer face, different nose and darker hair.**

 **Spontaneously combusts…. Hahahahahaha  
Yes! Ace needs more screen time. Have you heard of the new spin off they're making for him. (So excited)  
I think its Wano. Hahaha  
Hey! That does make sense! But that means Yume's fruit would also re-spawn because she was taken out of that time frame, unless I have her put back.**

 **Keen yeah: Thanks for the review! Hope you enjoyed the ASL power up!**

 **Ame: You're new! Greetings! Glad you enjoyed! Thanks for the review! You're Fantastic!**

 **Tanree: I believe you're new too! Thanks for reviewing! I'm so glad you enjoy! As for Sabo… {Rubs hands together like a crazy psychopath} You'll have to wait and see.**

 **Matt: You are also new, welcome! Sorry it took so long... But here is the update. Hope you enjoy.**

 **Guest: Thank you for the review, glad you're enjoying the story!**

 **So many new reviewers and followers and favourites and gah! I love you all!**

 **The next chapter was going to be the last one…. But I may make a short epilogue… Depends…..**

 **Thank you! TATA!**

 **UmbraAurumDragon OUT!**


	20. Chapter 20- All Together Again

**(A/N) This chapter was Beta'd by the exceptional Aliahra, thank you!**

 **Also have my other Beta in your thoughts, HaruHanabishi she was in an accident.**

 **Thanks for over 200 followers!**

 **Uni starts again soon… Uh.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, I am not Oda.**

* * *

 **Previously: Akainu got his ass handed to him on a silver platter by the brotherly trio. Law saved Yume and helped out Sanji. Zoro drove Marco insane but managed to find his way to the cannon to destroy it. Now everyone is waiting on the ships for Luffy, Sabo and Ace to return.**

* * *

 **Candle Heart**

 **Chapter 20- All Together Again**

"So we're here and the ships are all the way over there," Sabo stated.

"I'm sleepy," Luffy said hanging off Sabo.

"We should get that bird to give us a lift," Ace started to say, "then we can cook him for a feast."

"Ace, even though he'd be tasty, that's Nami's bird," Luffy whined.

"Any other ideas?" Sabo asked.

"I have one!" Luffy said wrapping one of his arms around both his brothers. "But then I'll need food and a nap, fourth gear still uses a lot of haki."

"Luffy no!" Sabo called out.

"Luffy stop, I'll find my-"

Luffy ignored his brother's protests and shot out his second arm towards the Sunny. Before Ace or Sabo could protest more, they were flying through the air, right towards a certain sleeping figure.

"AGAIN LUFFY! CAN YOU LEARN TO AIM SOMEWHERE ELSE?"

"Maybe when you learn directions Marimo," Sanji jabbed.

"Says the baka with no legs, no clothes and a fungal infection."

"When I get my legs back you'll regret that!"

"Snaaaarrrrggggeeeee!"

"What the hell was that!" Zoro growled turning around.

"They must have really worn themselves out," Robin said with a little chuckle.

"Narcoleptic idiots." Nami said with a hint of fondness.

The three brothers were lying all over each other on the Sunny's deck, snoring their heads off.

"Ahhhhh! Luffy, Ace, Sabo!" Chopper said in utter distress. "They're going to bleed out!"

Zoro lifted Luffy onto his back, Law grabbed Sabo and Usopp got Ace.

"Quick down to the infirmary! Look at Ace's rib! And Sabo's shoulder!" Chopper cried.

"Oi Franky, Nami!" Zoro said before heading below deck. "Follow Law's submarine and the revolutionary ships out of here."

"As soon as those boys wake up I want an explanation as to why a ghost is on this ship!" Nami called back.

"He's not a ghost," Yume said tilting her head.

"Awww you're so cute," Nami said grabbing her and giving her a hug.

Yume stiffened up.

"Who is this?" Robin asked walking up to her.

"Some kid Luffy found." Sanji grumbled from underneath his blanket on a chair.

"Don't be grumpy Sanji," Brook said, "just because you've been demoted on the medical priorities list."

"I'm fine!" he grunted, "I just need my legs."

Zoro and Usopp came back from downstairs, overhearing the end of the conversation Usopp said, "Hey I'll help you put them back on!"

"Yohohohoho, I'll help too."

Jimbei, Franky and Nami went to go steer the ship whilst Usopp and Brook went to go get Sanji's legs from Law. Yume walked downstairs to sleep, Zoro followed her example and fell back to sleep on the deck and Robin started reading her book. They were all worried about the three brothers causing a tense feeling in the air.

Usopp and Brook returned, they were snickering under their breaths.

Zoro squinted one eye open to roll it before going back to sleep.

"Now Sanji, Brook and I were wondering if we could borrow your legs, just for a little while?" Usopp said from in the darkness of the doorway.

"LIKE HELL!" He yelled out.

"No but you see," he said stepping out. "Now I'm Blackleg God Usopp brave warrior of the sea and the kitchen." He said with his hands on his hips showing of Sanji's legs on either side of his hips.

The look on Sanji's face was one of pure horror.

"Nami Swan! Robin Chwan! I'm a big pervert and I'm not afraid to hide it," he said running around.

"Yohohohoho, do another impression!"

"No this is an atrocity to my legs! Give them back right now!"

Usopp pulled out a fake cigarette and tried to curl his eyebrow, "I'm so cool." He said in a fake Sanji voice.

"That's as good as Luffy's impression, Yohohohoho! Let me have turn Usopp."

"Alright here you go," Usopp said pulling off the legs and attaching them to Brook.

"Diable Jambe!" Brook said in a mock Sanji tone. He then started to twirl like a ballerina on the spot.

"I DO NOT LOOK LIKE THAT!"

Zoro opened his good eye and chuckled.

"Go back to sleep Zoro, and while you're at it fall into a coma!"

Zoro continued to chuckle.

"Shut up baka!"

"Whoa look at this!" Brook exclaimed.

"Hey that's Sanji's sky walk!"

"Give me back my legs already!"

"Alright, alright!" Usopp said pulling the legs off Brook.

"Here you go San-" The legs suddenly jumped out of Usopp's arms and went running around the ship.

"Yohohohoho! Come back!" Usopp and Brook chased the legs across the ship.

"Ahhhhh! Get these off me!"

"Nami just stand still!" Usopp yelled out jumping at Nami. But Sanji's legs had a mind of their own, they detached themselves from Nami and hopped away, just as Usopp jumped at her.

"Get off me!"

Usopp and Brook continued their chase of the legs, until they stopped on the railing of the Sunny.

"Brook be very quiet, we'll sneak up on them."

"Mhhmm," Brook replied.

The two tiptoed towards the legs and prepared to grab them, they reached forward….

And the legs jumped off the side of the boat.

"MY LEGS!" Sanji screeched.

"Don't worry Sanji! I'll save them!" Brook said jumping off the side of the boat after them.

"Brook! You idiot!" Sanji yelled out.

Usopp jumped after Brook.

"Look on the bright side Sanji," Robin said looking up from her book, "You'd look very cute with bunny legs."

"Of course Robin chw- RABBIT LEGS!?"

"Or maybe a fluffy bear?"

"Fluffy bear….?"

"Or a baby dear…." Robin said with a huge smile.

"USOPP! BROOK! YOU BETTER BRING MY LEGS BACK OR DON'T EVEN BOTHER COMING BACK!"

* * *

"You idiot's are so lucky you found them," Sanji said, finally in one piece.

"You could have looked so kawaii," Robin whispered, disappointedly under her breath.

"I'm going to sleep," Sanji said not hearing Robin's statement.

"Those three brothers are going to want a feast when they wake up Sanji!" Usopp yelled out.

"They'll probably recover for a few hours so, so will I," he said walking inside.

Nami was steering the ship, Franky had gone downstairs to look at the engine, Jimbei had gone to go rest.

"Robin, what do you think Luffy did?" Nami asked.

"Hmmm?"

"I mean about Ace?"

"Oh, I'm sure if he'll tell us eventually."

"Ace died though. Do you reckon he's a ghost?"

"No, Luffy must have sound someway to find him."

"What if he dies again?"

"He did lose a lot of blood..."

Nami put on a look of horror.

"At least we are here for him this time if it does happen again." Robin said tilting her head.

Nami smiled, "I guess I shouldn't worry, those boys are indestructible."

"Exactly," Robin said.

* * *

"They haven't woken up yet?" Nami asked Chopper.

"No, Ace and Luffy are looking ok, but Sabo, he lost a lot of blood…" Chopper answered.

"Law is with them at the moment though?" Usopp asked before biting into some of his dinner.

"Yeah he'll take first watch over them then it'll be my turn." Chopper said playing with his own food.

Sanji placed a drink in front of Nami, "They'll be fine," he said.

"But Sab-" Chopper began to say.

"Will be fine." Zoro finished for him. "There's no way any of them would die now they're together again, so just eat your meal. We have the two best doctors in the whole world on this ship."

"You saying that doesn't make me the least bit happy you jerk," Chopper said bashfully.

"Hey Chopper, who's better, you or Law?" Usopp asked.

"We specialize in different areas so it's hard to say." Chopper said rubbing his chin.

"I reckon our little Chopper is the best. He can cure any disease after all," Robin said.

"Oh stop it." Chopper said pulling his hat over his head.

"Hey what happened to Marco?" Nami asked, "I saw him with you Zoro then he just disappeared?"

"He's been flying above us," Sanji answered for her.

Zoro nodded, "Alright, I'll take first watch over the ship, Law is watching the brothers, and Nami can steer the ship," he stood up, "the rest of you better get some rest."

They nodded and followed his directions.

* * *

"Shishishishi, food, food, food!" Luffy whispered sneaking down the Sunny's hallways. His tummy was grumbling, he'd used a lot of haki, now he needed food, or he was going to die!

"And where, do you think you're going?"

Luffy froze and slowly turned around to see Ace leaning against the wall, "Ace! Want to help me sneak some food?"

Ace tilted his hat up with two fingers and smiled, "Yeah sure, let's do it!"

They snuck down the hallway.

"You look pretty banged up," Luffy teased.

"So do you!" he teased back.

"You can meet the rest of my crew tomorrow morning." Luffy chuckled.

"Can't wait," he said with a smirk.

"Isn't Law cool too!"

"He's dealt with you this long; he's probably lost his mind."

"Shishishishi."

They arrived at the kitchen.

"We have to be super sneaky, otherwise the others will wake up and get mad," Luffy said tip toeing across the floor.

They arrived at the door and Luffy started pulling, he yanked and shoved but it wouldn't budge.

"Danget! Sanji made it indestructible," Luffy pouted.

Ace walked in front of him and unlatched the door.

"Yosh!" Luffy yelled out jumping into the freezer.

The two of them took as much as they could carry back to Luffy's room.

"Did you always have your own room?" Ace asked, chomping down on some meat.

"No, Franky recently put it in."

"The cyborg?"

"That's the one!" Luffy said.

"I can't wait to talk to Sabo again." Ace said with a smirk.

"Hey why don't we all go back to Foosha Village and annoy Dadan?"

"Sounds great."

"Hey let's go check up on Sabo!" Luffy said excitedly.

"Why not."

Luffy stuffed the remainder of their spoils into his mouth and walked down the hall to the infirmary. They were about to walk in, but the door opened, and Law walked out.

"Tra-Guy! How's Sabo?" Luffy asked.

Law shut the door behind him and looked Luffy into the eye.

"Strawhat-ya I was about to come get you, Sabo- ya isn't doing too well."

Luffy and Ace both froze, "Is he ok?"

"He's fine for now."

"Can we go in and see him?" Luffy asked.

"No! You two should be resting and healing!"

Ignoring this Luffy and Ace both ran past him into the infirmary.

"Sabo!" Ace said running to his bedside.

"So that all wasn't a dream," he said coughing.

"Nope," Luffy said smiling, "Ace is really here."

"You ok Sabo?" Ace asked.

"Yeah, I should be just fine,"

"I bet you're hungry!" Luffy chimed in before running off.

"You idiot," Ace said, "you could've died."

"Says the one who did die."

"You were trying to one up me hey?"

"I don't think I could be THAT reckless."

"Then what the hell were you doing?"

Sabo looked downcast, "I was just kicking his butt for you."

Ace took in a breath, understanding.

"You are just as reckless as Luffy and I."

"Maybe a little," he said with a coarse laugh.

Ace put his hands in his pockets, "You should've seen Luffy after we thought you died all those years ago, he didn't stop crying for a week."

"Hahahaha, you should've seen the expression on his face when he saw me again." Sabo chuckled.

"Oh yeah, what did he do?"

"Almost suffocated me in a hug."

"I'm hardly surprised, Luffy never really did grow up."

"He does make a great Pirate King though."

"He didn't even tell me." Ace said grabbing the back of his hat laughing.

"Really? He called me straight away, sounded like he was practically bouncing off the walls."

Ace chuckled in response, "I never got to ask before Sabo, but how are you alive?"

"Dragon rescued me, but I lost my memories."

Ace nodded, finding that an acceptable reason.

Luffy then ran through the door his arms full of food.

He plonked down on the bed, "Here you go Sabo."

"Luffy! You've already eaten half of it!" Sabo laughed.

"No I didn't." Luffy replied with his mouth full of food.

Both Sabo and Ace began digging in to Luffy's spoils.

"So what are you going to do now?" Sabo asked Ace.

Ace leaned back against the infirmary wall, "I guess I'll stay with you two for a while, after that,"- he shrugged- "I have no idea."

"You can join my crew," Luffy suggested.

"I'll think about it."

"WHAT! REALLY!"

"I think I'll go with Marco for a while though."

Sabo nodded, "Makes sense."

"Are you done with the family reunion yet Strawhat-ya? All three of you need to rest." Law was standing in the doorway.

"Can we stay in here?" Luffy asked.

"No, go to bed."

"Come on Luffy," Ace said walking towards the door. "See you tomorrow Sabo."

The two of them returned to Luffy's captain's room and fell straight to sleep.

* * *

"Strawhat- ya, wake up!"

"What!" Luffy sat up out of bed and looked around.

"It's too early," Ace grumbled. "Unless you have food go away."

"Firefist- ya, you'll want to hear this too."

Ace sat up, his hair was sticking up at odd angles.

"Are we under attack or something?" Luffy asked.

"No."

"What is it then," Ace demanded.

"It's Sabo- ya."

"What about Sabo?" Luffy asked, he tilted his head and scratched sand out of the corner of his eye. "Is he hungry?"

"Strawhat- ya, he's dead."

* * *

"This better be good Coby, I'm retired after all, I don't like coming running to Navy HQ for just nothing."

"I promise it'll be the best news you've heard in years."

"As long as it's better than Luffy becoming Pirate King. That Brat would have made a good Marine."

"Yes Sir, but I assure you, this news you'll like."

Garp and Coby walked down the halls of Navy Head Quarters. They arrived at Akainu's office.

"I'd rather not talk to that hot head, thank you," Garp growled.

"Don't worry, he's not here, as a matter of fact, he's dead."

"What?"

"He was killed in battle this morning."

"Really? I would like to say I'm sad but, Akainu and I didn't really see eye to eye."

"I know Sir, I'm sure it'll interest you to know who killed him."

"Dragon?"

"No Sir."

"Sabo?"

"No Sir, well not really."

"Shanks?"

"No Sir."

"Coby just tell me already!" Garp yelled.

"Ace."

Garp blinked a few times, "What kind of game are you playing kid?"

"I'm an Admiral now Sir."

"I don't care, why did you say Ace killed him?"

Coby pulled out a newspaper and handed it to Garp.

"This will be going out to the public in a few hours."

Garp put his hand over his eyes, trying to stop the tears that were threatening to break out. For there on the cover on the newspaper was a huge picture of all three of his grandsons facing off Akainu. The title read.

' **FIREFIST ACE RETURNS'**

"Ace…."

* * *

Luffy grabbed Law's collar, "What do you mean he's dead! Sabo's just fine."

"Strawhat- ya, he lost too much blood, I couldn't revive him."

"Liar!" Ace yelled standing by Luffy.

"No. NO! This can't happen again!" Luffy said as he grabbed his forehead and fell to his knees.

Ace took a step back and sat down on the bed.

Law lowered his face, "I'm sorry Strawhat- ya…" Law gripped the side of his hat. "But I was kidding, although he is still rather sick." Before Luffy could even look up, Law stepped out of the room and shut the door.

"THAT WAS NOT FUNNY TRA-GUY!"

Luffy ran out of the room to see Law was gone.

"He got us both there," Ace said.

"Let's get him," Luffy said, clasping his fist.

Ace ran after Luffy but hesitated to cough. His hand covered his mouth, but when he brought it back, he noticed blood.

* * *

"How do those boys have so much energy in the morning?" Nami asked watching Ace and Luffy chasing around Law, with Law evading them with relative ease. "What are they so worked up about anyway?"

"Law told them Sabo was dead," Usopp said taking a sip of his drink. "It was my idea." he said proudly.

"That's mean! Especially when they should be resting!" Chopper groaned.

"I think Law has spent a little too much time with us," Robin chuckled. "He's picking up some of Usopp's lying techniques."

"And Luffy's mischievousness," Nami added.

"I'm sure they'll forget all about it as soon as breakfast is ready," Sanji said, lighting a cigarette.

"Food?" Luffy asked drawing his attention away from Law.

"Give me five minutes." Sanji said, rolling his eyes whilst walking into the kitchen.

* * *

 **(A/N) MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.**

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 **Wow: Glad you enjoyed!  
Heard there'd be food, hehehehehe, that's great.  
Yes! I'm glad you liked it! And that you got scared for a bit! Fight scenes are difficult, especially with more than one person. It took so long to get that fight right.  
Hahahaha yes I'm thinking I shouldn't try a time travel story, ever again.  
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 **UmbraAurumDragon OUT!**


	21. Chapter 21- Ace's Dilemma

**(A/N) This chapter was Beta'd by the exceptional Aliahra, thank you!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, I am not Oda.**

 **YES I'M ALIVE! Sorry this took so long, uni saps the life out of me, and I was unfortunate enough to choose two subjects this time with weekly assignments….. Yippee -_-**

 **WARNING: This chapter mentions death and suicide. (However, I tried to make it less dark by trying to make it amusing.)**

 **I'm not sure if I got Ace's character right in this chapter. So sorry if it's a little OOC.**

 **Thanks for over 100 reviews and 30 000 views!**

* * *

 **Previously: The fight is finally over; Luffy, Ace and Sabo are together with the rest of Luffy's crew on the Sunny. Everyone had a laugh at Sanji's misery and Ace and Luffy got up to mischief whilst waiting for Sabo to get better, after which Law decided to mess with Luffy. Garp found out about Ace being alive, but will that be a permanent arrangement?**

* * *

 **Candle Heart**

 **Chapter 21- Ace's Dilemma**

"Ace! Get up!"

Ace opened his eyes to see the image of his younger… older…. brother sitting on top of him. He rolled over, pushing Luffy off of him.

"Breakfast time!" Luffy yelled running off.

Ace smirked, but it quickly disappeared when a stabbing pain assaulted his abdomen.

 _What is going on?_

He never took more than a day or so to recover from a fight, so why did he feel so tired... and cold.

He never feels cold.

It had been three days since leaving the golden city; the revolutionaries had sailed off trusting Chopper and Trafalgar Law to look after Sabo. Marco was still around, he tended to just perch on the mast and fly around looking bored. He had told Ace he thought he should give him some space and time with his brother.

But he didn't leave. He was waiting. For Ace to leave with him.

But he couldn't leave Luffy and Sabo, not yet at least, the three of them hadn't been together since they were kids, and Sabo was still bedridden.

Ace walked out into the hall, he crossed paths with Sanji who had a cigarette in his mouth and was reaching for a lighter in his pocket.

"Let me get that," Ace said lifting his finger up to the cigarette.

His finger produced a small flame.

"Hey, thanks! Want me to make you something?"

"Nah I'm good thanks," Ace said walking off.

Ace began to sweat; he walked around the corner and slid to the floor. Producing a flame had never been hard before.

He didn't want to eat, he couldn't sleep properly. Maybe something was wrong. He walked to the infirmary.

"Sabo," he greeted walking in.

"Yo!" Sabo replied.

Ace sat down next to his younger… older… brother and leaned back.

"Feeling better?" Ace asked.

"I'm fine; Chopper just insists I should stay in bed."

Ace smirked, "He's a good doctor."

"Says the one not confined to his bed." Sabo scoffed.

Ace laughed, and asked what had been plaguing him, "So what's the Mera Mera been like for you?"

"Good, until a few days ago."

Ace perked up, "What do you mean?"

"It hasn't been working normally since you came back."

Ace's mouth dropped, "Yours too?"

"Two of the same devil fruits aren't supposed to exist at the same time, it's unnatural," Sabo said shaking his head.

"But why does yours exist? I never died."

"I've been thinking about that, if we had not of gotten sick, I would have assumed they could have been an exception to the single devil fruit rule, like twin devil fruits."

"Or devil fruits of the same kind but different class? Like the cat Zoan cat types, lion or tiger?"

"Yes, I thought of that too, I even potentially thought mine could have been a manmade devil fruit, seeing as I found it in Dressrosa during the time they were making them, but those were only Zoan type, Vegapunk hadn't made Logia types."

"So what do you think now?" Ace asked.

"I think perhaps that you being gone for so long, just automatically reset the devil fruit."

"Wouldn't Luffy's and Yume's reset too?"

"No to Luffy, yes to the girl."

"Why?"

"Luffy took Yume out of her time, like he took you out of yours, but whenever Luffy went, he was still alive during that time."

"So there was his younger version and this times version."

"Yes, meaning there was never a long period of time when he didn't exist, but perhaps if he stayed in the time where there were two of him, he would have gotten ill like we are."

"Why does this have to be so confusing?" Ace said rubbing his temples.

Sabo laughed in response.

"So how do we get better?" Ace asked.

"If one of us dies I assume the other would get better," Sabo answered.

Ace's eyes grew dark, "That's stupid, what will happen if we don't do anything?"

"I think we'll just continue to get worse till we both die."

"Then I will die, I'm not supposed to be alive, you are," Ace said.

"No way!" Sabo yelled, sitting up.

"Like hell I'm going to let you die!" Ace began to feel like spicy hot chocolate was coursing through his veins.

"Stop being so stubborn! I'm not going to let you just go and kill yourself," Sabo said, his brow becoming progressively more and more furrowed.

"I can kill myself if I want to! You can't stop me!"

Sabo's expression relaxed, "Ace we'll find another way to fix this, neither of us have to die."

"Have you ever heard of anyone getting rid of a devil fruit before?"

"Well no..."

"Even if there was a way for one of us to remove our devil fruit, it would take us too long to find it!"

"We can always tr-"

"No!" Ace almost screamed. This reminded him way too much of what was only several days ago for him; when Luffy and the Whitebeard pirates decided to be idiots and tried to save him from the execution platform.

 _I will not have anyone else die because of me!_

"Ace the alternative is insane!" Sabo tried to explain.

"We don't have time! Neither of us are healing properly, and although I can survive with this broken rib for a while, you can't last much longer with your injuries."

"I'm fine Ace!"

"No you're not!" Ace said standing up.

"You really want to put Luffy through all that again? Do you know how hard he worked to get you back?" Sabo asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You weren't around, no one was. We left Luffy alone. You have no idea what he went through. You can't leave him again, it's selfish!"

"Luffy became stronger be-"

"Luffy was always going to be strong. But you can't die again, neither of us can."

Ace leaned against the infirmary wall and lowered his head. Blood dripped down his hands from where his nails had bitten into his palms from clenching too tightly.

"Sabo-"

"What's going on?" Trafalgar Law asked walking in.

"Nothing," the two brothers replied with a grunt.

Law lifted an eyebrow but shrugged and walked out.

"Well Sabo, that was a nice chat, I'll talk to you later!" Ace cheekily exclaimed before running out the door.

"ACE! Come back here, don't you dare do anything stupid!" Sabo got up and limped after Ace.

Ace followed Law out into the hall, "Hey Law!"

"What is it, Firefist- ya?"

"Can you stop Sabo from following me?"

"Why?"

"He's supposed to stay in bed!" Ace said continuing down the hall and heading out onto the deck.

* * *

Nami leant over and picked out another weed.

 _How was it possible so many weeds could grow near her tangerine trees?_

Granted she hadn't pulled any out for quite a while. She blamed Luffy, she never had enough time to do anything, since she always had to make sure he wasn't doing something stupid. This was taking forever though, and her arms were getting sore.

She went and got a small shovel, this would make it tonnes easier. She started digging up the weeds.

"What the hell!?" Zoro exclaimed.

"What?" Nami asked before turning around to look at a dirt covered Zoro. He was rubbing his eye.

"You've put enough dirt in my eye to plant a new garden," he grumbled.

"Sorry," she said sweetly.

"He's only got one eye left Nami, imagine how lost he'd get if he lost that one too," Usopp chuckled climbing down the mast.

Zoro snarled at him and walked away to clean himself.

Nami continued her digging.

"You really are spraying that everywhere," Usopp said.

Nami gave him a glare.

"But that is perfectly o- What the?"

Ace ran out onto the deck closely followed by Sabo.

Ace jumped for the railing at the edge of the boat but Sabo tackled him at the last second.

"Baka!" Sabo yelled.

"Get off me!" Ace yelled back.

"No!"

"Shishishishi," Luffy chuckled before jumping on top of his two brothers.

"Luffy get off!" they both yelled in unison.

"Doggy pile!" Luffy yelled out with a huge smile.

Hearing the commotion the rest of the crew came out from inside.

"Luffy! Ace!" Chopper yelled in hysterics, "Get off of Sabo!"

"But we're having fun," Luffy pouted.

"You're the only one having fun Luffy," Ace grumbled.

"What the hell is going on!?" Nami yelled.

Ace and Sabo grunted.

"Ace is sick." Sabo piped up.

"I am not!"

"He should be confined to the infirmary."

"Tattle tale!"

"Ace is sick?" Luffy asked tilting his head.

"They're both sick," Law said walking onto the deck.

"What?" Luffy asked.

"They both have a fever and neither of them are using their devil fruits properly."

"Sabo will be fine," Ace said shoving Luffy and Sabo off and standing up.

"No way!" Sabo grumbled.

Nami rubbed her temples; she never wanted to be in the presence of these three again, her sanity couldn't take one let alone three.

"What?" Luffy repeated.

"Ace and Sabo are sick because they both have the same devil fruit. They believe if one of them doesn't die they will both die."

"WHAT?" Luffy yelled.

He looked to his brothers.

"Sorry Luffy," Sabo said with a weak smile.

"What do you mean sorry?"

"One of us has to die Luffy, and it's going to be me!" Ace said.

"I told you we can work this out without anyone dying Ace!" Sabo argued.

"NEITHER OF YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!" Luffy yelled, suddenly serious.

"Luffy I'm not even supposed to be alive."

"No, I just got you back." Luffy choked. "You don't know how hard Yume and I worked to get you back!"

Sabo gave Ace an 'I told you so' look.

Ace responded with an angry glare.

 _Baka,_ he thought to himself.

"Is there something we can do?" Brook asked.

"Chopper can fix it!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Lu- Luffy, I've never seen anything like this before." Chopper said sadly.

"But you can fix them!" Luffy said.

"I'll help Chopper find a way," Robin said patting Chopper's head.

Chopper exhaled, "Thanks Robin."

"So until we find a cure, these two should be confined to the infirmary." Law said.

Chopper agreed.

* * *

"This is all your fault," Ace grumbled.

"You shouldn't have tried to jump off the edge of the ship," Sabo huffed.

Ace growled and tried to turn his head to glare at his brother, but he couldn't.

Luffy, Chopper and Trafalgar Law had gone to every extent to make sure neither he nor Sabo could move.

Thus, they were completely tied up and taped from head to toe, to their beds in the infirmary.

"If you two hadn't of been reckless, I wouldn't have to babysit you," Zoro said with a grumble from the other side of the room.

"Sorry Zoro," Ace said.

Zoro crossed his legs and leaned back against the wall.

"Maybe he'll fall asleep," Ace whispered.

"Maybe you should go to sleep," Sabo grumbled.

Ace decided to lay in wait and luckily for him, within a few hours both Zoro and Sabo fell asleep.

He snickered quietly. It was time for plan B.

Plan A hadn't been so successful, granted he hadn't properly thought it through, even if he had made it to the water, Luffy's crew would have dived in and rescued him. And trusting Luffy, they probably had plenty of practice at it.

Ace strained his body and managed to turn it into flame, enough that he could escape his bindings.

 _Part one of plan B, successful._

He creeped downstairs.

 _Surely Luffy had some sort of sea-prism stone on his ship. What if they had a logia prisoner? Yep surely he had some._

He just had to find it.

 _Maybe it would be extra pointy!_

He rubbed his hands together with glee. He never thought he'd be so eager to die. But here he was excited at the thought.

Sorry Luffy, Sabo, Marco; but it was for the best.

He didn't want to break his promise to Luffy twice. But some things were more important than keeping promises.

He tiptoed down stairs.

 _Did the Sunny have a hold?_

He walked into what must've been Franky's workshop; he looked around to no avail. Until he found a safe. He lit his hand on fire and melted the lock.

 _BINGO!_

It wasn't sharp but the sea-prism stone handcuffs would do. He grabbed them and instantly felt weaker. He took them upstairs to the deck, and placed them on the ground. Now what should he do? He walked around them, tried banging himself on the head with them. But nothing really worked; it just made him feel sick.

Maybe there was some sort of devil fruit ritual he could do?

He glanced around and seeing no one he placed them around his neck. He had heard of some rituals from some of the islands he'd visited. He decided to try one of the simpler ones he'd heard of.

He sat down cross legged and began humming silently.

 _This is stupid._

He went back downstairs and grabbed a hammer; he very lightly tried to bang the handcuffs into a pointy shape.

 _Nope. Maybe a little harder._

BANG BANG BANG BANG.

 _Why wouldn't they break? Oh…. they're harder than diamond… Ok, plan C._

He climbed up the mast.

 _Rope. Yep surely he could hang himself, a bit drastic but maybe..._

THUMP.

 _Plan C doesn't work._ He thought to himself on the deck of the Sunny. Why couldn't his body stay solid?!

 _Plan D!_

He heard a chuckle.

"What do you plan on doing next?"

He looked up to see Robin leaning against the door trying very hard not to laugh.

"Back to bed."

He walked towards the door.

"You won't die Ace."

Ace lifted his head, "What?"

"Your heart isn't in it; you're just trying to stall time."

"I won't let Sabo die."

"But you won't let Luffy down either."

"Some things are more important."

"You have time, why don't you just go back to your normal polite self? We can handle this," she said sweetly.

"No, I need to fix this now."

"Alright, keep up your charade, I know you won't die."

"What makes you say that?"

"Even sick logia users can make themselves solid. You may have been prepared to die all those years ago, but now that you've seen the world now, with both of your brothers alive. You won't give up so easily."

Ace didn't reply, because even he knew that was the truth. Instead he walked past her, and headed back to the infirmary; slightly bummed, but not defeated.

Cause he had plan D, DEATH BY NAMI!

* * *

Before everyone woke up he creeped into Nami's room. This time he wanted to be caught in the act. He looked through the draws, ignoring underwear and such, until he found a stash of money.

 _BINGO!_

He stomped his feet.

Nothing.

He banged some pots together he had brought with him.

Nothing.

These girls sleep like logs.

Well at least Nami did, he had a feeling Robin was awake and was trying not to laugh.

Defeated he began to walk outside, money in hand, when he felt a bang on the back of the head.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"

 _Abort! Abort! Plan D was not a good idea._

* * *

"Shut up," Ace growled.

"You look like an eggplant!" Sabo laughed.

"NAMI! You could have killed him!" Chopper whined bandaging Ace's head.

"He tried to steal my treasure." Nami replied without a touch of guilt.

Usopp winced from the doorway, "That was not a smart move, Nami's a monster."

Nami turned around with a growl.

"I think I just came down with 'get away from the infirmary disease'," Usopp yeeped, before running away.

"Zoro you were supposed to watch him!" Nami yelled.

"I was asleep," he yawned.

Nami's fingers twitched in a neck choking fashion.

"I'll watch them tonight," Law said clutching his forehead.

"Geez these brothers," Nami complained walking away.

"Room."

"No!" Ace yelled struggling.

Law's sword came down over Ace's legs.

"Trafalgar!" he yelled.

"There Strawhat- ya. Now he can't go anywhere."

"Thanks Tra-guy!" Luffy said from the end of Sabo's bed.

"All done!" Chopper said finishing tying up Ace's bandage. "I'll get you a drink of water." He walked outside and Law followed him.

The three brothers were now alone in the room.

Luffy grabbed the edges of his hat and pulled down on them.

"Sorry Luffy," Ace said quietly.

"You're both going to be fine," Luffy said getting up from Sabo's bed.

"Of course we are Luffy," Sabo agreed.

Ace stayed silent.

"I'm going to get some food." Luffy said walking out.

"Get me some too Luffy!"

"Baka," Sabo scoffed.

* * *

Sabo looked at his sleeping brother's form.

"I'm sorry Ace," he whispered, "but Luffy needs you much more than he needs me."

Sabo knew they were dying. He had felt himself get progressively worse and worse as the day progressed and what he felt he could see reflected in Ace.

They would die, and the rate they were deteriorating was getting faster and faster. Even though he had spent the day with Robin, Chopper and Trafalgar studying different ways to get rid of devil fruits, and calling people to see if anyone knew anything; they had found nothing.

By what he could tell, he and Ace would be dead by morning.

He would not lose his brother again.

He took out his bag from the drawer next to him. He was the one who ate Ace's fruit, this situation was his responsibility and he knew of one sure and quick way to die.

He pulled out a devil fruit he had recently found.

No one could survive eating two devil fruits. Except in the case of Blackbeard. But he didn't believe that would happen with him.

"I'm sorry Luffy, Ace, Koala, Dragon."

He lifted the fruit to his mouth and took a bite of the foul fruit.

* * *

 **(A/N) Hope you enjoyed! This is not my favourite chapter, I reckon I'll like the next one much more. Hopefully it'll be the last one.**

 **Guest Reviews: (Rest via PM)**

 **Wow: Yes, yes I did :p  
Really? I don't think I liked that last chapter much, I didn't like this one either, I've kind of stopped watching OP so I can binge watch later, so I feel like the characters are a bit off, I feel like I'm trying too hard to make funny interactions between characters. I liked chapter 5 or 6… the one where Law was introduced. 3  
That will be next chapter. (I seriously thought this would be finished by chapter 18.)  
I will probably mention that in the next chapter too.  
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 **Thank you all for being so patient with me! TATA!**

 **UmbraAurumDragon OUT!**


	22. Chapter 22- Explosion!

**(A/N) This chapter was Beta'd by the brilliant Aliahra and HaruHanabishi, thank you!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, I am not Oda.**

 **I graduated UNI! I'm so sorry this took so long. Thank you to all for sticking with me!**

 **This is the final chapter. (However, I may go back and change a few things from previous chapters.)**

* * *

 **Previously: Ace found himself in immense amounts of pain, due to the fact that two devil fruits can't exist at the same time. Unfortunately Sabo finds himself in the same predicament; so Ace tried to kill himself to save his brother, albeit unsuccessfully. Sabo however, had a more fail proof plan, and just chomped down on a second devil fruit.**

* * *

 **Candle Heart**

 **Chapter 22- Explosion!**

Luffy groggily opened one eye.

 _Someone is yelling…_

"LUFFY!"

Luffy sat up straight, suddenly alert.

 _That was Ace!_

He jumped up and ran to the infirmary. He slid into the room and saw Sabo convulsing on his bed. Foam was building up around his mouth and blood was escaping from his tear ducts. "SABO!" he screamed running to his brother's side.

"Luffy untie me, so I can help him!" Ace begged.

Luffy looked over at Ace and saw how pale he looked; his face almost resembled a panda bears with the dark circles around his eyes. Luffy unbound Ace and helped him reattach his legs, which Trafalgar had cut off earlier. Ace ran to Sabo and grabbed him just before he fell off the bed, he pinned his arms down and growled, "What the hell did you do!? You said we had time!"

Sabo's eyes rolled to the back of his head.

"Luffy, grab his legs! We have to stop him from hurting himself!"

Luffy nodded and did what he was told, "What happened?" he asked.

"I don't know, I woke up and found him like this."

"We need Chopper!"

"CHOPPER!" they both yelled at the top of their lungs.

Within minutes the little reindeer was in the room closely followed by Robin, "What happened?" he gasped after seeing Sabo.

"We don't know!" Luffy cried.

"Quick, roll Sabo onto his side so he doesn't choke!" Chopper demanded calmly, but firmly.

The two brothers rolled Sabo over, whilst Chopper went to work intubating Sabo. Luffy couldn't help but notice how hot Sabo's skin was, he grabbed Ace's arm and noticed the opposite symptom. While one of his brother's skin felt like a hot stove to touch and almost appeared to be bubbling like it couldn't quite take the heat anymore; the others reminded him of Aokiji, and his cold ice.

"Luffy!" Robin exclaimed, "Look at this."

Luffy looked over and saw a half-eaten fruit lying on the floor, next to Sabo's bed. It was a vibrant green with a pattern of swirls covering the upper half of the cylindrical shaped fruit.

"A devil fruit."

"What does that mean?" Luffy asked.

"Luffy…" Chopper croaked, "it's rumoured people who eat two devil fruit… explode."

Luffy's eyes widened and he felt like somewhere he could hear glass shattering. He looked at Sabo, his hands were burning just touching Sabo's skin. How long did he have? Will he survive this? Why did he do this?

"Luffy, I believe we only have till sunrise to figure this out, and by the looks of Ace, he only has that long as well," Robin said as she placed a cold cloth over Sabo's forehead.

"That's only a few hours Robin!" Luffy cried.

"Luffy, don't worry about me, save Sabo," Ace croaked, now back in his own bed.

"By the looks of it the, smartest option would be to put Sabo-ya out of his misery," Law said walking in. "It'll be almost impossible to save him, and his death would almost guarantee Firefist- ya's survival."

"No it wouldn't!" Ace growled indignantly.

"Neither of them are dying Tra- Guy!"

"There's nothing you can do Straw hat-ya! The moment the sun rises over the ocean, both your brothers will be dead! You have to choose whether to save one of them or neither!"

"NO!" Luffy screamed!

"It's neither then!" Ace grumbled.

"Luffy, this is your decision. What do we do?" Robin asked.

"Save them both," Luffy said crossing his arms.

"I'll try to bring down Sabo's fever," Chopper said taking out a syringe.

"I'll do some more research," Robin said exiting the room.

"I'll see if i can try to extract the fruit Sabo just ate from his stomach. But it's unlikely to work," Law sighed.

Law activated his 'room' over Sabo.

"This doesn't look good Straw hat-ya; he's going to explode."

"Keep trying," Luffy begged.

The rest of the crew slowly woke up and helped in any way they could, but light was building up on the eastern horizon. The brighter it got, the worse the two brothers looked. They didn't have much time left.

"Luffy, Sabo could explode at any second; we need to get him off the Sunny!" Law exclaimed.

"Take him out onto the deck."

"Bring me too," Ace said weakly.

Luffy and Zoro took Ace and Sabo out on stretchers. Thankfully Sabo had stopped thrashing, but now his skin was so hot that no one could touch him.

"We're running out of time!" Luffy yelled, looking out onto the horizon. The very edge of the sun was peeking out over the horizon.

"There is nothing I can do, but delay the inevitable Straw hat-ya!" Law yelled.

"There must be something!" he screamed.

"Luffy, we can't find anything," Robin said tears welling up in her eyes.

"We need to kill Sabo-ya so Firefist-ya can live!"

"No! I will not let that hang over my head," Ace said weakly.

"But Ace..."

"I'm sorry Luffy, this is all my fault. You should have just left me in the past."

"No…" Luffy choked, his vision was becoming blurry with his tears.

"I'm glad the three of us got to be together again, made all of this worth it," he said before his eyes slowly closed.

"ACE!" Luffy screamed running toward him.

"No Luffy you have to stay away," Zoro said forming a tight grip around Luffy.

"ACE! SABO!" he screamed as he fought against Zoro to go to his brothers side's.

Law had formed a room around the two brothers whilst the rest of the crew stayed as far back as possible. "Law you have to get back too! The explosion could kill you!" Chopper yelled. Law didn't have time to react before a blinding white light consumed everything. Luffy managed to get one last look at his brothers before it consumed his sight as well.

As his sight slowly returned, he felt his heart shatter into a million tiny pieces.

* * *

 _It's all my fault._

 _Ace._

 _Sabo._

 _If we had just had more time to find a way to fix this._

He looked out at the blazing sun, a cruel reminder that time had once again betrayed him.

 _They were gone._

"Luffy! Stop being so depressed it was just our devil fruits."

He felt a slap on his back, "Yeah we can just go find new ones."

"But it's my fault you lost them, and you almost died!" Luffy said, trying to hold back his tears.

"Stop being such a cry baby Luffy," Ace laughed, "this just means Sabo and I can have a race to find the Mera Mera no Mi."

"That actually sounds like a good idea," Sabo said with a smirk.

"I'm still confused as to what happened." Usopp groaned from the side of the ship.

"Firefist-ya and Sabo-ya's Devil Fruits were rejecting them, it allowed me to extract them, when normally I wouldn't be able to," Law said from his seated position near the bow of the ship.

"So what caused the explosion then?" Nami asked from the helm.

"The second fruit Sabo-ya ate. I managed to extract it from his stomach but it still exploded."

"So what happened to the two Mera Mera no Mi fruits?" Brook asked before taking a sip of his tea.

Law shrugged, "One of them just melted into nothing, whereas the other one was just gone after the explosion."

"That'll make it more interesting to find again," Ace smirked, before passive-aggressively saying. "But first, there is a certain brother I have to beat up for lying to me."

Sabo rubbed the back of his head with a guilty grin before running below deck, followed closely by his two brothers.

"I'm glad that's over with at least," Sanji said bringing out tea for the girls.

"I'm afraid with Luffy around, nothing's ever 'over with'," Nami said using finger quotations.

"We'll never be bored," Robin chuckled.

"At least we get to see them together, where they grew up soon!" Brook said excitedly.

"Why? Where are we going?" Law asked.

"We're going back to Dawn Island," Nami replied, "Those brothers wanted to surprise someone."

"Who?" Law asked.

"I guess we'll see," Nami replied.

* * *

The sun that had seemed so depressing earlier that day finally set, and a chill took its place in the cold night air. The deck of the Sunny appeared eerie with only a couple of lamps on. Luffy was on watch, looking out at the moon from on top of the Sunny's figurehead, thinking about how he might join Sabo's and Ace's game to find the Mera Mera no Mi. Even though he didn't need it, he didn't want to be left out of the chase. He was considering what he would do with the devil fruit if he found it when the sound of someone's footsteps disturbed his train of thought.

"I'm leaving."

"What do you mean you're leaving?" Luffy asked, turning around to face the person.

"As much as I want to stay with you Luffy, I want to go find my devil fruit before someone else does."

"But you haven't even been here that long," Luffy pouted.

"I know, but Nami said I could borrow Sakatori for a while, besides I don't think I'm really cut out to be a pirate," Yume replied with a lopsided grin.

"Sure you are!" Luffy said.

"Nah, I'm going to travel around for a while, then I think I might start studying to become an animal tamer."

"Why?" Luffy asked jumping up and walking towards the little girl.

"It's much less stressful and animals seem to like me. Plus, I swear if I had to deal with one of your brothers almost dying again I might die."

"But there's nothing better than being a pirate!" Luffy whined.

"I'll miss you too Luffy," Yume said with a sweet smile. "By the way, when I find my devil fruit, can you look after it Luffy?"

"Why?"

"Because I think you could take better care of it than I can."

"You're strong. You can-"

"We'll be happy to look after it for you Yume," Robin said, cutting Luffy off whilst walking up the stairs to the Sunny's deck.

"Thanks Robin."

"Shouldn't you stay till morning Yume? The others may want to say goodbye?" Robin asked.

"It's ok, I'll see you all again soon." Yume jumped onto Sakatori's back, with her grumpy cat and waved goodbye.

"Thanks for everything Luffy,"

"BYE YUME!" Luffy yelled out.

"Good luck Pirate King!" she yelled out with a final wave as the giant bird disappeared into the dark night.

"Shishishishi, Pirate King," Luffy said with a huge smile.

"Come on Pirate King," Robin said with a chuckle, "bedtime, it's my turn to take watch."

"Night!" Luffy yelled out, before running below deck to jump on Sabo's and Ace's unsuspecting, peaceful forms.

* * *

They finally reached Dawn Island, everyone except for Jinbei, who decided to look after the ship. The place hadn't changed since they were last there, and Luffy couldn't help but think, it hadn't really changed since he was a kid either; with the exception of a huge black Straw Hat flag raised proud at the entrance of the small town. Even though the same flag was now displayed at many islands and cities the site of this flag in particular filled Luffy with joy.

"There sure are a lot of windmill's here, Luffy. What's the name of this place?" Zoro asked, looking around confused.

"We were only here a few months ago, and how could you forget the name of the town! There are hints everywhere!" Sanji chaffed.

"No, I knew that!" Zoro growled.

"Then why did you ask? Baka!"

"How long has it been since you two were here?" Nami asked Sabo and Ace, ignoring the two hotheads.

"I came and visited Dadan and Makino a few years back," Sabo replied.

"Three years for me, ten years if you include the time I was dead," Ace added.

Nami massaged her temples, "I hate time travel."

Whilst the others were talking, all Luffy could think about was whether or not Shanks would still be here. He'd love to introduce him to Sabo, and he was sure Ace would enjoy seeing him again. Plus Shanks always had the best parties. The thought of all the meat he was going to have was already causing him to start to drool.

"Ewww Luffy! Are you trying to make a lake here?" Nami asked.

"Meeeaat!" was all Luffy could reply.

They finally made it to Party's Bar, the crew walked through the doors to see a familiar redhead, taking a swig of sake.

A huge smile erupted on Luffy's face, "SHANKS!" Luffy yelled out, launching himself towards the man.

Slightly more prepared this time since their last encounter, Shanks managed to grab Luffy's face before he crashed into him.

"Hey Luffy," he said with an affectionate smile.

"Bwe goth Athe," Luffy said pointing towards the door, "and I wanteb you to meeth Thabo too."

"Firefist!" Shanks exclaimed, not in the least bit surprised. "Good to see you again!"

Ace stepped forward and bowed to Shanks, "Thank you for everything you did to help my brother and I."

"Dahahahaha! No problem! I'm glad it all worked out," Shanks replied dropping Luffy.

"This is Sabo!" Luffy said excitedly.

"Thank you for everything you did for my brothers," Sabo smiled.

"Again no problem! I've heard about you Sabo, pity you didn't become a pirate though," Shanks chuckled.

"Luffy!" Nami screeched hitting him over the head and disrupting the conversation between Sabo and Shanks. "Why don't you explain how Ace is alive before poor Makino has a heart attack!"

Luffy looked over to Makino who had tears streaming down her face. "I'd never thought I'd see this again."

Ace lowered his head and bowed to Makino, "I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you Makino."

Makino choked on a tear and ran around the bar and wrapped Ace, Luffy and Sabo in a huge hug. "I don't care how," she said sobbing, "but I knew the three of you were meant to be together like this again."

The four of them enjoyed each other's embrace for a minute more before Makino stepped back and slapped Luffy. "You three need to get going over to Dadan's! Your Grandpa Garp just happened to visit yesterday." She began to shoo them all out of the old bar, "Go on, go on. No matter what you three have done, those two will enjoy seeing the three of you together again no matter what!"

"We'll be back soon Makino, Shanks!" Luffy yelled while walking off.

"You haven't smiled like that for a long time," Shanks said glancing down at Makino, who had a fond smile from ear to ear as she waved the pirates and the revolutionary off.

"Neither has Luffy." She whispered.

* * *

Ace kicked a rock as they walked up the forest road, his hands as deep in his pockets as his mind was in thought. Images of the minutes before his 'death' fluttered through his mind like pages in a book. The words Garp said that day in particular resonated through his mind.

' **I have no sympathy for criminals but family is a different story.'**

 _What would Garp say to me now?_

"Luffy, have you seen Grandpa since my execution?" Ace asked.

"Hmmm, not really," Luffy replied.

"Sabo?" Ace asked.

"I haven't either."

"He's going to be so surprised!" Luffy chuckled.

"THINK AGAIN!" A booming voice said from out of nowhere.

The three brothers' eye's almost literally popped out of their heads with fear, as their grandfather began to throttle them, without mercy.

"Idiot Grandsons, making trouble for the marines. After all I've done for you."

"We didn't do anything!" Luffy screeched.

As he was getting his life pummelled out of him, Ace noticed that Garp had the biggest smile he had ever seen on him, stretched across his face, yet he was acting almost exactly the same as he always used to. However, as much as he tried to hide it, Ace still saw the stray tears that fell down from his grandpa's eyes.

Luffy's crew looked on with horror, whilst the three got beaten, Sabo and Ace laughed whilst Luffy got the finishing noogie.

Luffy rubbed his sore head, and pride, whilst Garp started walking back towards Dadan's house. "Go find some food you brats; Dadan's rules haven't changed around here.

Brook, Nami, Chopper and Usopp all looked towards Luffy, "NO PIGS!" They all yelled in unison. Sabo and Ace gave them a confused look.

"We don't want to relive that madness," Usopp cried.

"I still smell like boar," Nami sighed.

"At least you weren't stuck under one's rear," Brook said with a cringe.

"Hahahaha, how about a crocodile then?" Ace asked.

"Meeaaat!" Luffy drooled.

* * *

Dadan was not impressed. Why had that old geezer come to visit her now, hadn't he caused her enough trouble over the years? She sat on the ground drinking sake, trying to think of a way to get rid of him, when he stood up, and walked out on his own.

 _Weird… Is he leaving?_

He came back a half hour later, his eyes dark.

"What were you doing?" she asked.

"You'll see."

 _Stupid old man, treating my home like his personal palace._

She continued to think of ways to get rid of him, until her train of thought was interrupted by the loud calling of her name.

"DADAN! WE BROUGHT MEAT AND A SURPRISE!"

"Why are you back here you brat!" she screamed, sticking her head out the window. "Go fight some-"

 _No way..._

 _The little brat…_

She slammed the window shut and locked the door.

"We're coming in!" Luffy exclaimed.

"What are you doing Boss?"Dogra asked.

"Nothing, go away." Dadan yelled, covering her eyes.

"Oi! Dadan, why'd you lock us out!? Let us in!" Luffy demanded.

Magra looked out the window and gasped, "Ace! Sabo!"

Dadan sniffled and wiped her eyes, and slammed open the door, "What do you think you brats are doing here?"

She was cut short by the three brothers launching themselves at her in a vicious hug.

"Get off me you brats!" she yelled, but she couldn't stay mad, and she couldn't hide the huge smile that had spread across her face.

* * *

"Where has Garp gone off to?" Sengoku barked at a young marine.

"I'm not sure sir," the man replied.

"Here I am, living out retirement as an Inspector General, and I have to come back as a temporary Fleet Admiral, because of Garp's grandsons!"

"It has been a tough few weeks on all of us sir, things were bad beforehand with the new Pirate King. But since the knowledge of Fire Fist Ace's return was made public, the marines full forces have been summoned and they're all terrified, the nobles have become more distressed, the general public are in chaos and pirates have become even more active."

"Only those brothers could do this," Sengoku sighed, "I'm far too old for this. Go find Admiral Coby, and escort him here."

"Yes sir."

 _This is the next generation's problem now._

* * *

Within an hour, Makino, Woop Slap, Shanks, his crew and even Trafalgar Law had come up to the mountain, for the party. They feasted on the crocodile the brothers had caught and almost everyone was drunk by the end of the night. Of course, Garp was not impressed with all the pirates present, especially Shanks, however, for this one night he turned a blind eye.

Once everyone had fallen asleep, the three brothers left to go visit their old tree house. They lay out on the roof and stared up at the clear night sky, blanketed with an array of stars, just as they used to many years ago. An ASL flag once again rippled in the wind.

"I wonder if any of the traps we set still work," Ace pondered allowed.

"A few," Luffy chuckled, "I checked."

They stayed up late in the night having arm wrestles, talking and reminiscing, but after a while Sabo began to realise, just how much he had missed out on.

"I wish I could have spent a few more years here."

"Well you did leave earlier then you said you would," Ace teased.

"Why don't the three of us go on our own adventure, just us? I have a few things to organise first, as does Ace I'm sure. But Luffy it'll also give your crew a break for a while."

"Sounds good," Ace said.

"Mmmhmm" Luffy agreed.

"Then in six months, we meet back here,"

Luffy and Ace both nodded and smiled.

Ace then pulled out a bottle of sake and winked, "I stole it from Dadan again." He laid out three small red sake cups and poured the alcohol into each one.

"We might not always be together, but as I said once before; our brotherhood will always be with us, wherever you are, whatever you do, we'll always be bonded together, to brothers!" Ace finished off, lifting up his drink.

"To brothers!" Ace and Sabo both repeated as they lifted up their drinks and drank, reconfirming their bond once again.

* * *

 **(A/N) This is the final chapter! I hope you enjoyed!**

 **I wanted to thank each individual reviewer, favouriter and follower, but there are just way too many of you. But thank you everyone who read this story, it's the first thing I've ever written seriously, so thanks for the support for the past year and few months. Also thanks to all the new readers as well.**

 **I have a few honourable mentions to make:  
First to my first reviewer: BlackGryphon101.  
To my frequent reviewers: Friendly Reader, Wow, BlueJay Blaze, SteppedOnaLegoOw, AndurilofTolkien, KeenYeah, AceAyane, GreenDrkness, Matt, MyAnimeObsession, The Keeper of Worlds, Mirai HitsugayaKurosaki, Underwater Dreaming and all the others who have read this from the start.**

 **And a special thanks to my main Beta: Aliahra and my other beta: HaruHanabishi**

* * *

 **Guest Reviews: (Rest via PM)**

 **Matt: Thanks for your review, and thanks for pointing that out, I changed it. :3  
Keenyeah: I didn't really understand your review? Hummy? O.o  
Guest: Bet the start of this chapter freaked you out :D**

* * *

 **TATA!**

 **UmbraAurumDragon out!**


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